Dollhouse
by Rice Buny
Summary: Or: Kageyama happens to be a really good baker, Oikawa realizes when they're both kidnapped and trapped in a basement. [No Oikage. Their relationship here consists them tolerating each other/somewhat brotherly love(?)]
1. Chapter 1

"You can't leave." You can't leave. Kageyama shakes his head with a jerky motion, as he scrabbles through the small building. "Stop it. Please." He turns to her, his eyes wide. This can't be true. _Liar, liar!_ However, Kageyama, being the realist he is, has already come to terms that such a fearful girl such as herself, wouldn't lie about such a thing. "Stop it!" She shrieks, as he slams at the lock. "Please, stop!" Her voice, dropping octaves lower, her fragile, delicate tone cracking, as her composure shatters. Under normal circumstances, he would've been reluctant at continuing his actions at the sound of the desperateness in her voice, but with panic clouding his consent, he continues. "Stop!" She wraps her slender fingers around his wrist.

"Shut up!" Kageyama snarls. "Shut the hell up!" The girl, despite possibly being a year or so older than him, is easily overpowered as he yanks himself out of her spindly hands. He grabs a nearby chair, painted in a pastel pink color. "I-" He slams the dainty chair straight into one of the windows nearby the kitchen, and a satisfactory feeling simmers his anger just slightly. His confusion and fear dissipates, as he's ready to escape.

Then he stops. The sinking, horrifyingly empty feeling that's suffocating at the moment, distracts him from his bleeding palm as he clenches onto the glass fragments that still clung onto the wooden frame. The window leads to a brick structure, blocking the exit out of the window. "We're underneath, we cannot escape." Once again, the girl's voice had returned to its general feathery timbre she had used with him when he woke up.

"Underneath?" He inwardly flinches at the meekness of his voice. "W-what do you mean?" He asks, his voice hardening after stumbling over his first word. He hesitates. "You mean underneath Daniel's house?" He questions harshly, and his fear occupies his mind once more.

Vulgar language spouts out of his mouth the moment the girl nods slightly, and he storms ahead. "If you continue to break the furniture," the girl begins, raising the volume of her voice. "You'll just make him angrier!" She exclaims. He doesn't care. To think, that the man Daniel, who introduced himself while Kageyama was walking home, legitimately kidnapped him right off the streets. His mouth running off with colorful words, all fueled by frustration and disappointment within himself, he finally forces himself to stop rampaging. So far, all the other doors led to small bedrooms, that resembles the fanciness and decorations of a hotel's sleeping arrangements for a room. One door opens up to a washroom, that's void of any sort of object Kageyama could use to help support for his goal of escaping.

He storms across the colorful, patterned carpet. Hell, this entire place resembles a dollhouse. The stove, a light color of pastel green; matched with the pink countertop of the little kitchen near where he's standing. And then there's the fucking wallpaper, adorned with roses and a dullen jade background. Something that he presumes Natsu would love; not him.

Figuring that despite him not being smart, he's rather observant and ready to make strategic plans, Kageyama realizes that perhaps, he can outsmart this 'Daniel', and figure a way out. "Tell me the code," he fiercely turns to the young girl, who stares at him, blinking. "Don't play innocent," he growls. "Tell. Me. The. Damn. Code," he punctures one of the buttons of the lock bolted onto the one metal door, that Kageyama presumes to be the only efficient exit out of here.

"He changes it every day. I don't know." She answers softly, her eyes wide and her frame shivering. Kageyama, exasperated, slams another one of those damn chairs onto the wall, watching as the pillow that had occupied that seat, fall to the ground. "Stop it!" She screeches. Frowning, Kageyama lowers the chair at the clank that emitted from the wall when he slammed the foot of the chair against it. Metal. He can't possibly tear through metal walls. Scowling, he turns to her. She shuffles back in her pink flats. Even she resembles a fucking doll for this fucking dollhouse.

"What is this place," Kageyama's rather aware that he can seem rather ominous and demonic at moments [helpfully informed by Hinata], so he struggles to sound rather gentle. Yes. Gentle for a man who's holding a smashed chair in his hands. He releases the grip on the leg of the chair, watching as it finally splinters on the ground. "Where am I?" He asks once more, inhaling sharply.

Yeah. No worries. Someone will notice he's missing eventually. Eventually.

"You're home." The girl responds softly, flashing a smile with her painted crimson lips.

* * *

"Iwa-chan, you're so mean!" Oikawa chirrups happily, as his friend glowers at him nastily. "Besides, it's not like my new house is that weird," he mutters indignantly. Besides, just because they moved, doesn't mean Oikawa's going to necessarily leave his volleyball team; if anything, their new house is located closer to the school than his old building.

"I'm being truthful." Iwaizumi replies coldly. "I love that you moved; now I have a shorter distance to walk you home to. I can get rid of your stupid face earlier than usual." And as if on cue, they approach an intersection. The sidewalk, split into two, one leading to the left, the other to the right. Oikawa suddenly feels rather strange, and perhaps...bilious? Yes. It's small, it's a small situation that shouldn't even bother Oikawa. However, his stomach twists in a sickening manner, and the feeling of disappointment so strong, that Oikawa nearly trips over his buckling knees. But Oikawa supposes that he can still walk with Iwaizumi, as long as they can meet at this stop sign that's in front of them. It's just that their walk together will be shorter than usual. For some strange reason, this doesn't please Oikawa despite it being rather small as he sees Iwaizumi every day whether he wants to see his friend or not.

"Yeah right, you'll miss my cute face," Oikawa chirps, his large eyes flitting over to him. "Well, good day!" He forces himself to sound rather cheerful and indifferent about this new change, as he flanks down the left sidewalk. He hesitates, and turns around, watching as Iwaizumi continues down the right road of asphalt.

Sighing, Oikawa continues down the street, and quickly, approaches his new house. It's not bad. Actually, he received a room more spacious than usual. Quickly, he runs up the steps of his new porch, and swings open the door. His mother never locks the door around the afternoon, as often, Oikawa slips in and out the house without warning.

The moment he enters his new, unfamiliar house, he dumps his bag in a dining chair, as he reaches for his phone. However, a sudden chime causes him to retract his hand, as he blinks. After a second of hesitation, the chime sounds once more. His mother shouldn't be home from work yet-

"Oh, hello." Oikawa greets, as he creaks open the door [which he had yet to lock]. The man who had rung on his doorbell waves in response, after readjusting his glasses. "Who are you?" He asks with a friendly air.

"I'm your new neighbor, call me Daniel."

* * *

He hadn't expected to already have his sights on someone else; especially a day after kidnapping that beautiful raven-haired boy. Daniel shoves aside the bookcase [which was stacked full of books, yes, but still considerably easy for such a weedy man as him to move, as the bookshelf was balanced on hidden wheels], and opens the metal door behind it. Running down the flight of stairs, he's met with another metal door. Flinging it open, he's greeted with the boy, who rounds to him at the sound of the opening door.

"Tobio." The boy's spine arches at the sound of his name, and his glistening cobalt eyes frost over, as they harden into a glare. How beautiful. But then, the boy shoves by him, and Daniel stumbles back. "Tobio. Stop." He calls out, unconcerned. "You can't open the door." The first door he entered, locks once closed, unless if the correct passcode's entered. "You can't escape." The sound of rattling metal alerts him, signifying that Kageyama's desperately trying to get out. "Come back." He says softly. He turns to the other prisoner, who smiles at his appearance. "Sachiko." [Yes, this is an OC, but trust me, she's only here for character development on Kageyama. She won't become a main character or one of those, 'Mary Sues' or whatever]. "Welcome, my lovely." The girl smiles charmingly as normal.

"Welcome back, Daniel. I didn't expect you to be home so early." The shaking stopped, and though it had became background noise for Daniel, he's still alarmed by it. Then, a voice follows the sudden halt of the sound of pounding metal:

"Stop calling this place home!" Kageyama's rich voice sounds distant from the top of the stairs. The boy appears himself, his lean yet muscular frame capturing Daniel's attention. His pale visage has become a flushed red, and anger burns within his eyes. This intrigues Daniel: such burning hatred, passion. "And you," he turns to Daniel, his breathing heavy and his eyes dilated. "I'll kill you." He whispers. Sachiko flinches from beside him.

"If you kill me, you'll be locked down here. With my corpse." Daniel begins slowly. He's used to such a threat from the previous children he has 'adopted'. "And," he continues. "If I'm dead, you'll die down here with me. I'm your only source of food, and I'm the only one who knows the passcode to get out of here." Daniel savors the look of fear that appears upon Kageyama's countenance. Granted, such an expression only lasted a couple seconds before a blank canvas replaces it, but Daniel keeps such a face in mind. "Just accept your fate." He murmurs. "Welcome to our family." He mutters slowly, smiling at the sight of his new son stare at him with such a disheartening look.

How simple. He expected that Kageyama would take much longer to bend to his will. No. Wait. There it is; determination. The hopeless, shattered look intermingled with fear and laced into a perfect expression with denial, has disappeared, and now replaced with an iron countenance.

Sighing, Daniel turns to Kageyama. "Look," he states. "If you continue to be like that, if you try to kill me, and you succeed, you'll die here. If you don't succeed..." He begins, and Daniel feels his body fueled with excitement and pleasure at the thought of snapping the bones of such a young boy. "Then you're going to wish I was dead."

Returning to face Sachiko, Daniel recalls the boy he met earlier. Such beauty. Similar to Kageyama, but their appearances and interpretation of flawlessness different in comparison. He'll take both. "Sachiko, we finally have a son." He pets the ebony-haired girl on the head, while smiling at Kageyama. "You'll prepare dinner, won't you?" He asks slowly, and Sachiko sends him the smile that she always wear whenever he's around, as she nods. "Now, Tobio, this being your first night here, I'll take it easy on you," he mutters, angered by Kageyama's rebellious nature. He hates not being in control. However, Daniel's not concerned. He'll rid of Kageyama's ruthless and stubborn nature without question. It'll take perhaps a longer time than normal, but pretty soon, he'll receive the perfect little son he wanted.

He surveys the wreckage. Such a destructive nature. "If you continue to try to escape, if you continue to be a bad boy," He lowers his voice, as he concentrates on stifling the anger within him. How dare Tobio act like this? After all he's done to Tobio? He gave him the perfect family, he's offering him the perfect house to live in, with no worries such as homework, or fitting in, and here's how he's reacting? No matter. He'll soon grow to love him.

"I will punish you severely." He snaps, as he punctures in the code to unlock the door, with his body blocking the view of the lock from Kageyama, and he exits the door, closing it shut.

* * *

Yeh.

So. Um.

I'm finally back.

I know I should continue on my other fanfics...but I'm lazy ;-;. I'm supa sorry. I know many people are like: 'I was busy', or whatever, and that can be true, but I feel as though we're just saying that as a redundant excuse tbh. At least to me.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer I don't own Haikyuu!. I also forgot to put that in the last chapter.

Oops.

* * *

 _Like hell I'm going to wear this,_ grimacing, Kageyama turns to Sachiko, who just smiles that damned grin of hers, gesturing with her manicured fingers to put it on. "Y-you want me to wear this?" He say slowly, pronouncing every word sharply, as though if he doesn't, his words wouldn't be decipherable. Considering they were about to come out in undignified squawks, they probably weren't going to be.

"Me? No, Daniel does. Your father." Bristling at the label she used, Kageyama tosses the crisp suit onto the pink couch. It creases against one of the bright, pale yellow pillows.

"He's not my dad." Her fake, animated smile appears to be strained, as if plastered on at his hissed words. She sighs, the lines around her eyes crinkling. For such a young woman, who couldn't be that much older than twenty, shouldn't have such wrinkles already among her porcelain skin. "And you, you're not my mom." He adds bitterly, his tone laced with venom and fueled with hatred. What happened to her? She doesn't seem defeated. Nor does she seem broken. Kageyama has lost track of time. Previously, after Daniel left the room, Sachiko was kind enough to show him his room. Despite him never admitting so, his room is probably his current favorite room of the house: after all, it's the only one stripped of pale, vivid, pastel colors: it's just blue. Of course, he couldn't help but admire the various shades of blue that decorate his room.

That is until Daniel informed through the speaker bolted near the television, that he made the room blue to match his eyes. Because that just implies he's been watching Kageyama. At that thought, Kageyama stiffens, and Sachiko's lecture fades into the background. How long as Daniel been stalking him; how _close_ had Kageyama allowed him to approach him, without ever knowing? Apparently close enough to know the color of his eyes.

"Tobio?"

Still irritated by them using his name as if they're close to him, he rounds to Sachiko, no longer immersed in his thoughts. Despite him hating her for being so weak, for allowing Daniel to lock her in his freaking basement for who knows how long, and follow his orders like a puppy, he cannot hate her personally. She's weak, for sure; both mentally and physically. However...she's currently the only one in the same predicament as him. And she's gentle, as well.

"Please don't call me that," He mutters, using 'please' just out of pity for the woman. However, he doesn't bother to decrease the acidic layer underneath his voice.

Sachiko just knots her red lips in distaste, and for a moment, Kageyama cannot help but be pleased at her sudden, sour expression. Then, her fucking smile returns. Like a doll. The way she dresses. The way she acts. Like a perfect housewife towards Daniel. Her actions. Her words. _Plastic._ Deformed. She's broken. Daniel had broken her, there's no way she was like that before she ended up here. Kageyama vows to himself, that he won't ever become like at the thought, he stares at her, waiting for her to react. "Look, the thing is, you can't escape. So stop acting that way." He recoils as his eyes clap with hers. Desperation glistens through her brown retinas. Once again, that emotion resurfaces from the lady. Complete, utter, desperation.

 _"You'll just make things worse for all of us if you act that way,"_ she whispers, her eyes dilating. He nods reluctantly. While he may be stubborn and completely dense; he's conscious that she could be punished for his uncooperative manner. "Just...please." She whispers.

Licking his dry lips, he shakes his head. He's not going to have Daniel dress him up like some sort of doll. "How long have you been here?" As though taken back by his sudden question, she blinks. _How long have you been here, for you to be a complete, plastic, doll?_ "How long have you been here?" He echoes his previous question when she doesn't answer.

"I-I don't know. Years, maybe. I don't know how long I've been here." She shrugs. "But it's fine. Soon, you'll call this place home." She smiles. "You can't escape. You can't leave. You're here, so please, I know readjusting must be hard for you, but really, Daniel just wants what's best for us!" Beaming, she smooths her polka-dotted skirt. "So, _son_ ," his spine becoming rigid, his body stiffening at this, the lady chirps. _Son_.

His mind once again wanders.

His mom. Is she worrying? Is she concerned? Are the police out looking for him? _Yeah_. _Yeah_. He fidgets, his breaths coming out shaky as he trembles, struggling to reassure himself. The police must be out searching for him; he'll be found in no time. But...she claimed she was here for such a long time...Sachiko doesn't recall how long she's actually lived here. No. Fear entwines itself into his heart, and his heart begins to chop against his chest. He...he can't be-

"Tobio, are you crying?" He is. And Kageyama, being the proud boy he is, would've often snapped sharply at anyone who caught him crying. But he doesn't care right now. So instead, he sweeps away the tears with his knuckles, streaking them across his cheeks. Inhaling sharply, he shakily fixates his attention upon Sachiko. He doesn't want to think about his family. His friends. _His only friends._

Hinata.

"Yes. I was crying," Kageyama informs Sachiko firmly, with a flat tone, his expression emotionless. "But it doesn't matter." He adds nastily. "What were you saying, again?" He asks once more, struggling to keep his tone polite in the face of this plastic doll.

"I'm making dinner now, please, here are some books." She shuffles in her heels, grabbing a stack of books, and handing it to him. Scoffing, he takes the offered items. She smiles. Then, slowly, she says, "He's always watching us!" She laughs merrily. Of course he is. Considering that the man actually has a speaker wired into his basement, it wouldn't be odd that he has cameras and bugs, picking up their movements and their voices.

He stares at the cover of one of the books handed to him. Of course. Daniel wanted the perfect family, Kageyama presumes, judging by the observations he collected. So he probably would want an intelligent and obedient kid. Like he's going to willingly read _War and Peace._

* * *

"Yeah, Kageyama didn't show up to practice today." Hinata scowls. "His mom said it's possible that he ran away again. It's been less than ten hours, anyways." He mutters. "I think that he has to be gone for twenty-four hours for the police to get involved." He sighs. Hinata's honestly not that concerned. At first he was worried when his mother admitted to not knowing the location of her son; but then, she calmly exclaimed that there are times when Kageyama just disappears for days; two at the most. Being the bottled-up boy he is, he often struggles to recollect his emotions, or express them. And apparently running away to a place where he can just be alone, helps. "And his mom wasn't worried either."

Shrugging, Diachi tosses the stray volleyball into the nearby cart. "I know, but still, if Kageyama was having troubles with his emotions, he could come to us!" Tanaka snarls viciously, and Hinata snorts while Sugawara sighs loudly, emptying his lungs dramatically. "We're his friends!" Tanaka screams, his voice ricocheting in the loud gym room. "Like, doesn't he trust us? He could come to _me!"_ He gestures towards himself, waving his hands about. He's clearly frustrated. "I'm his _senpai!_ He could trust me, after all, he could always come to his _senpai_!" Hinata snickers, with Kiyiko rolling her vibrant sapphire eyes over the top of her clipboard.

However, Hinata's rather infuriated as well. Sure, Kageyama's distant, and while Hinata's often dense, he's not that stupid [actually, in reality, Sugawara needed to tell him this, because even though he's in denial, he really is unconscious about how blunt he is towards such ordeals]. Kageyama probably has problem with his feelings in general, after all. He didn't have real friends-ever. So Hinata guesses he can't really be selfishly mad towards Kageyama for never sharing his feelings; heck, he believes that Kageyama didn't even know that friends tell each other what they're feeling at all. Chuckling to himself at that last thought, he tosses the volleyball into the cart.

"Great, so we cleaned up. Let's stop by to get some meat buns!" Nishinoya whistles loudly, smiling brightly.

"I assume because you pointed this out, you'll pay?" Tsukkiyama states bluntly. The short libero rounds towards the lampost, his nostrils flaring and his eyes narrowed.

"I'll pay," Sugawara sighs.

"Thanks mom-" Hinata chirps, only to stop as he finally digests what he said.

Hinata practically drowns in the humiliation and laughing of his dispersing team, as a scarlet red flushes Sugawara's cheeks.

* * *

Oikawa laughs nervously. "Yeah, um, sure!" He smiles, straining his lips. He's good with people. He loves to socialize. He practically buried his insecurities, having confidence in his abilities of befriending others [Iwaizumi often claims he's way too confident for his own good]. "I'll have to ask, however." He informs his new neighbor.

"Yeah, sure!" Daniel chuckles. "Say, so your parents are okay with this? Like, if you guys are busy, then-"

"No, no, I'm sure my mom will allow it." Oikawa reassures his neighbor. He already studied him. Oikawa often observes people from afar or up close, analyzing their responses, posture, and age to try and determine their personality. He seems pretty confident. Young, as well; thirty, maybe? And honestly, Oikawa has to say, he has pretty traditional clothing. He wonders if he ever changes out of the classy, white work shirt he's wearing, with the sleeves buttoned up to his forearms.

Not bad fashion sense, thus Oikawa's rather impressed. "Your mom? What about your dad, I don't want your parents not being informed and-"

Oikawa, used to hiding his emotions and sensitivity, doesn't allow himself to crumble. And also, how strange. Oikawa's aware that he says crazy shit half the time, however even this is odd for him. For Daniel to specifically note how Oikawa only talked about his mom, and how he even went as far to bring up the topic and authority from his parents...it's not sketchy, it's just kind of weird, in his opinion.

"My dad...he's not here." Oikawa begins. "He left when I was young."

"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry!" Daniel begins to apologize profusely.

Feeling rather uncomfortable and slightly awkward, Oikawa laughs it off. "No, no, you didn't know! It's fine, honestly!" He chuckles. And really, Oikawa's barely affected. He doesn't need his father. He doesn't even think about him half the time; he has his mom, he doesn't deserve to wallow in sadness over a father who he has no relationship with. So in reality; he just doesn't care. No sadness. Just indifference. He finds it really awkward when people felt as though they're being rude for prying, when Oikawa doesn't care in general.

"Anyways, I'll ask." Oikawa beams cheerfully at the man, and tipping his hat, Daniel leaves his porch. He shuts the door quietly, and sighing, Oikawa shivers. Something's off about the man. He doesn't know why, and he finds it strange himself for doing so, but he quickly rushes to his window, as he stares out. Daniel crosses the street, and towards his house, shadowed by a large tree. Such a sketchy house, with dark velvet curtains always closed. Man has privacy.

Oikawa can respect that. He mentally reminds himself that later, he must tell his mother that their dear neighbor had invited them over for dinner tomorrow night.

* * *

Humming happily, Daniel enters his house. How pleasant; he's delighted that Oikawa didn't have a father. Much easier to make him his, in that case, if he didn't have a memory or father figure to continue to cling onto. First, however, Daniel must acquaint Oikawa, along with his mother, to earn his trust before taking him. Oh, and he also must create some sort of alibi to the disappearance of Kageyama. Then, he hesitates. No one saw him. And he doesn't live around Kageyama's neighborhood, so he shouldn't be inspected by the cops once they realize Kageyama's never coming home. And besides, he's always cautious. He's always immensely careful. Such as with Yuka [fine I admit I'm just taking names from Corpse Party now]. When he disposed of his loving daughter's body...he was extremely careful, butchering up her slender limbs before burying her underneath his house, near the underneath of his porch.

Sighing, he shakes off his jacket, and slips off his tie. He must go greet his new son and beautiful wife.

* * *

"I got you a present!" His hatred boils within him, and Kageyama respires a shaky breath, gnawing his bottom lip. Blood gushes as he tears a laceration onto his lip. The metallic blood stings his tongue. "Here, Tobio-kun." Eyeing the black, glossy bag warily, he watches as the man reaches into it, and receives an object. "I know you like volleyball. I'm sorry I don't have a backyard here." He says. "But you know that I can't install one; because what if someone sees you outside? I can't possibly do that. After all, I only want what's best for you."

It scares him. It honestly terrifies Kageyama. How he actually means it. The honestly and genuine glimmer within the madman's eyes. He's delusional. He actually loves Kageyama. No. Not love. He's obsessive. And for some reason, this scares Kageyama much more than the thought of him being a mental patient who doesn't love him, and rather, is using him to give him a sense of normality or some bullshit like that. "But, knowing that you like volleyball," Daniel continues. "I got you this." He whips out a book.

The picture of a volleyball player is pasted onto the front of the hard cover. Rather than accepting the present, Kageyama narrows his eyes, glaring at Daniel. His smiles vanishes, and Daniel's eyes flashes behind his lenses. That bathes Kageyama in a chilling sensation, but he doesn't tear his gaze away. Daniel purses his lips, and places the book aside, and grips onto Kageyama's wrist.

Gasping by the sudden action, Kageyama's composure stumbles as Daniel yanks him towards him. Kageyama snarls. He should be physically stronger than Daniel. Oh. Or not. For such a lanky figure, he's surprisingly strong. Then again, Kageyama was never sure of Daniel's figure, as he always wore clothes that covered the majority of his skin. "Being this your first night here, I'll be easy on you." Daniel mutters, and Kageyama's heart pounds faster. "But, when I address you, you are to respond." He snarls. His grip tightens, and Kageyama hisses by the drastic increase of pressure on his wrist, and a lump forms in his throat. Not tears of pain. But fear. Dignity and pride returns, and Kageyama forces the lump down, and he winces as it scalds the back of his throat painfully.

Then, he releases.

Staggering back, Kageyama locks his jaw. He rubs his hand, and peers down. His pale skin, flushed a vivid red. It's possible that it'll bruise. "Dear," Sachiko clears her throat. "Here," she rushes forward, holding out a glass filled with an amber fluid. "Honey, is it good?" She asks. Is...is she actually asking for a positive response? Like a dog? The same way that a dog, if beaten by an owner, will always come back in hopes of receiving love? Kageyama wonders if she's legitimately in love with him? Then again, if she's been in here for so long that she doesn't know the period of time she's been trapped here, it's not impossible she had tricked herself into believe that he actually loves her, rather than just being madly obsessed. She must be so desperate; so lost, so hopelessly trapped to become as dependent as she is at the moment.

"Yes, yes it's good." Daniel answers the woman. He downs the entire cup of the murky liquid. Kageyama, being able to smell it from here, despite him trying to put as much distance between him and Daniel, is able to detect and identify the stench. Alcohol. Great. So he's a possible or potential alcoholic. "Son, come, sit at the table." Kageyama blinks at him suddenly addressing him. He wants him, to sit at that table? Kageyama eyes the clean, green table, obscured with a lacy cloth, surrounded with colorful chairs covered in pillows. "Son." Kageyama nods swiftly, and his pride hammers against him, slowly cracking. No. Did he just...respond and obey without objection to that man's orders?

No.

However, almost against his will, his fear controlling him, [oh, so now fear?], he seats himself in one of the seats, only for Daniel to suddenly pound his fist against the table. Sachiko flinches, and Kageyama nearly crumples off his chair, startled. "No, sit there!" He barks, and Kageyama, his heart practically stopping at his sudden outburst, stands up. He jams a finger at the orchid chair across the table. Kageyama stiffly stands up, and sits himself there. Wow. Okay then.

"Good." Little to nothing escapes Kageyama's glare, and he notes how Sachiko's chest deflates, as if silently sighing from relief. "Darling, what's for dinner?"

"Roast!" Then, something catches his eyes. The glimmer of the large fork and serrated blade of the knife against the plate of the roast with crispy skin. Smiling, Sachiko sets the plate down, and picks up the knife and fork. "You may." Kageyama stares at the submissive woman. She just accepted the fact that he gave her permission to handle the large, pointy utensils. It was already clear that he was the authority figure around here...but to this extent?

If only...Kageyama can reach the knife...

But he needs the man. He's the one who buys the groceries. This room is apparently sound proof, and completely hidden. No one will suspect that this man held people captive in his basement. And besides, even if they do search his house because he 'mysteriously disappeared', the chances of them finding this room is limited, and if they even do find this room, they'd probably starve by then.

And he's the only guy who knows the passcode.

Shit.

Kageyama begins to stand up, but then, a menacing glower from across the table flares up his temper. However, biting his scornful tongue, Kageyama squeaks pitifully, "May...I...be excused?" He forces those words through his gnashed teeth. "To the bathroom?" He adds.

Nodding, Daniel allows him. Kageyama heads for the kitchen, where the bathroom's located nearby, only to reach for the handle of the stainless steel pan, rather towards the golden doorknob. Then, rushing forward, disregarding the screams of Sachiko, he slams the pan against the skull of Daniel. The limp body collapses on the chair.

"You're hurting HIMM!" Sachiko screeches, as he slams the hilt of the pan against the man's head, just out of precaution.

"He's not dead, is he?" Kageyama snarls harshly, spitting on the body of the limp man, as Daniel renders unconscious from just the two blows to the head from a frying pan.

* * *

Snorting, Kuroo shovels the noodles into his mouth. Kenma glares at him in disdain as he swallows the lump of noodles. "Kill him." He hisses. Rolling her eyes, her mother glares at him. "What?"

"He doesn't deserve the sweet relief of death." Unlike the majority of mothers, his mom's vocabulary of swears reaches farther than even Ennoshita's. Not to mention her various and original retaliations and retorts she had stored in that mind of hers. Her vicious attitude and stubborn personalty is even able to tame that shaven-head weirdo from the Karasuno team.

"Who?" Kenma asks, his amber, tea-colored pupils sliding over from the two of them. Unsuccessfully combing his hair back, Kuroo slams his bowl down, jabbing the chopsticks dangerously at his friend, who hisses. "All I did was ask a question." He mutters tonelessly.

Before Kuroo can continue, however, his mother's loud and growling voice interferes. "That bastard that I used to call 'honey'! Crazy sunnofabitch!" She slurs her cussing words, as she flicks her black bangs away from her blazing eyes. Judging by the intense fire ignited within her pupils, Kuroo decides it's best to just allow her to continue, without him interrupting, if he values his tongue at the moment. He can definitely envision his mother slicing out his tongue if he stunted her words. Yep.

"Excuse me?" Kenma clears his throat politely.

Kuroo wonders how they got on such a subject in the first place.

"Tetsurou's father, that's who." she jabs a stubby finger towards Kuroo. However, Kuroo's more astonished by the startled expression that passes by the small boy's normally passive countenance.

"What? Did you legit think I didn't have a dad?" Kuroo asks. And yet Kenma's the smart one. Kuroo's known for the guy who can be labeled as dumb as Kageyama [granted, Kageyama's also known as cunning. He's a genius with amazing memorization skills. It's just that he never bothers to use them when it involves with actual schoolwork]. Thankfully, his IQ has yet to hit Bokuto's simple, astonishing retardedness. Yet.

"No, Kuroo," Kenma sighs, his neutral expression returns, his face hammered out into a blank canvas once more. "I knew you had a dad. I just never heard you guys talk about him."

Chortling, his mother sloppily transfers some noodles into her own bowl, after filling up Kenma's with a second serving. "Ay, thankfully, I was able to ditch that asshat when Tetsorou was ten. You saw him a couple times, I'm sure," she nods towards Kenma. "A lot, actually. It's just I guess you never knew he was his dad, just some guy who appears once in a while." Kuroo shifts uncomfortably.

Whenever his dad was around, he always avoided his household. That's how he found Kenma in the first place, at the age of seven. Whenever his dad appears, or returns from work or whatever, he always ran away, ran towards Kenma. And Kuroo always skirted around the subject of, 'why can't I go to your house', whenever Kenma never wants to go outside to the park. Because Kuroo never wanted Kenma to see his broken family.

"But finally, when Tetsorou turned ten," his mother gestures towards him with the pointy ends of her eating utensils. "I finally got sick of him. He was fucked in the head," Kenma doesn't seem slightly swayed by his mom's calm use of swears. "I swear...I should've left him sooner." Then, she stops, and Kuroo knows what she's thinking about, and all of a sudden, the oily residue left behind from the noodles, brings up his lunch. The nasty flavor of bile reaches the back of his throat, but he swallows it down, leaving just the scorching temperature of the vomit.

"He used to hit Tetsorou." Kenma's head whips over, and Kuroo laughs awkwardly. He stares at his mom. What's she thinking? Bringing such a personal piece of information up? But he quickly lowers his stare when her gaze softens. She does what she thinks is best; and while her decisions are often rash and quick, they always end up for the better.

"Mom would always protect me. I never got the worst of it." He admits, and Kuroo can feel his stomach twists. He hates it. He hates how his mother always took the majority of the punishments. Even though she's a savage dressed in nice clothes; his father was practically a madman. No match for him. And he was weak. A weakling that stood by and cried while his mother was bleeding from a cut. Or unconscious from a knock to the head. But they never called the cops. Because if they did, it was possible that they would take Kuroo away from his mother. They were poor. And her attitude towards the social workers didn't help: if they found his living conditions unsuitable, he could be snagged away.

So finally, they left that pyscho as their final decision, by leaving in the middle of the night.

Kuroo hasn't seen him in years.

And they never bothered to contact him, and same goes with his 'father'.

"You...were beaten?" Kenma questions in his soft tone. Kuroo never expected to ever hold this topic as a conversation between him and his best friend. He never wanted to. It's in the past. It doesn't matter...

"It's not that bad." His voice cracks, and Kuroo cringes at the shattered tone. "Really. I don't want to talk about it." He knows Kenma will respect his privacy. He won't pry. However, while Kenma nods, Kuroo can feel the burning, amber gaze latch onto him.

Feeling uncomfortable, Kuroo grabs his greasy bowl, and dumps it in the sink, hoping to find an excuse to avoid talking or even gazing at Kenma.

 _It doesn't matter. He can't hurt you here._

 _"Why can't you obey?" "Why can't you be the perfect son?" "I just want what's best for you!" "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST OBEY FOR ONCE?"_ Kuroo's grip on the bowl loosens, and it clatters against the metal sink's bottom. His father. Obsessed with the perfect family. His vision obscured with loneliness. His heart inked black and his common sense along logic.

Kuroo pities him.

And he hates himself for that.

* * *

Will there be ships in this story?

Possibly.

Iwa-chan and Oikawa will probably be one, maybe some Hinata and Kageyama. Kuroo and Kenma, possibly. I dunno. I'm not going to focus on the ships, but maybe some feelings just to provide more emotions and etc.

I'm typing this while watching Narnia. Or is this the one with Gandalf? Wait. No. Is this the Game of Thrones?

What the hell am I even watching?

* * *

But dudes. Seriously. This is the first time in a long time I've been so excited and motivated to create this story.

Thank the channels for showing _Kept Woman_ [movie] where i got my main inspiration from.

Like. Whoa.

This is strange.

Me wanting to update a fanfic.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer; I don't own Haikyuu.

* * *

 _If you read this, I will love you forever because I always skip these things despite me always wanting people to read my own messages._

Now, here's the thing. I hate OCs in general. Mary Sues, weird, powerful characters that people create that are genuinely way too boring because they're all the same [unaware that they're flirting, strong, 'not like other girls', Mary Sues, 'selfless'] it's not that I have anything against real life people with those characteristics, _it's just I seriously, seriously, hate characters represented like that when they're not real-life._

So, my OCs are only there for plot purposes because unfortunately, Haikyuu! does not have any sort of deranged characters [despite all of them probably being mental], so I had to create some. And even if they weren't, I didn't want to take any characters from their original role in the legitimate plotline of Haikyuu!.

Mainly, to get to the point, Sachiko is not going to be one of those OCs. I just had to say this because this was bothering me so much.

She is going to die.  
Yes. Yes she is. [Just saying, I hate pointless killing, so the main reason why I bother even bringing her up is because she's incredibly important to the character development/change of Kageyama and Oikawa]

* * *

 _Weirdo._ Oikawa laughs charmingly, fidgeting in his seat as he remains in a stiff posture. "Isn't this great, Tooru?" Nodding, Oikawa responds mutely to his mother's statement. "He's a teacher!" He nods once more, no longer really paying attention. "So, Daniel, tell me, what subject do you teach?"

Honestly, having dinner over at Daniel's house proves to be rather uncanny. To think, that such a stylish man would have a bland, dull and pristine house such as this, is rather disappointing. No original furniture other than the gray couch scooted against the wall of his living room. The color scheme for the whole house, so far, as Oikawa observed, are various shades of cool gray.

Yes; much of a disappointment.

"Tooru?" Blinking, instinctively reacting to his mother's voice, he gazes towards her warm visage. "I asked, do you know Professor Daniels? He teaches English major. Perhaps you had him last year at one point of the school year? He teaches the grade below yours." Blinking once more, Oikawa shakes his head.

"No, I think I would've remembered meeting someone such as Oikawa," Daniel remarks, and for some odd reason, this sounds rather unpleasant to Oikawa. Normally, such a comment, he would've taken it as a compliment to continue adding onto his narcissistic ego. But for some strange reason, Daniel saying it, despite his tone being delightfully charming and nice, scares Oikawa. It's distasteful, and really weird, in a bad way. "So, Oikawa, what grade are you in?"

His chopsticks lightly tapping the side of the ceramic dish as he sets them down, Oikawa swallows the bite of food he was gnawing on (for the past five minutes.) [He had continued to stuff his face in hopes of avoiding any sort of interaction]. "Ah-I'm a third year." He replies politely, as he swipes his fingers against a napkin, just so that he can do something with his twitching fingers.

"Oh, yes, and Tooru also is great in volleyball!" Daniel's eyebrows rise upwards.

"Really?" He mutters, his voice octaves higher than normal, as if surprised and perhaps amused. "That's great. So, what position you play? Setter?" Oikawa doesn't know why. He doesn't fathom his initial reaction. But he's completely unnerved by this question, and Daniel's answer to his own question.

"Yes, how did you know?" He asks. His eyes widening, Oikawa just gazes at his glass of water he had requested earlier. Why does this man alert the alarms in Oikawa? He's just some weird neighbor. It shouldn't be that unnerving. After all, he's met rather unpleasant people before; such as that Tanaka from the volleyball team of Karasuno.

"Oh, it's because a setter is the only position I know. I just said 'setter' in hopes of getting my own question correct." He chuckles. "I know this kid, a good kid, who plays setter as well. Tobio."

On normal occasions, Oikawa would be rather pissed at the mention of that brat's name. After all, that kid was able to surpass him [admittedly one of his greatest fears], and become stronger, and beat champions that Oikawa never got to, just because he was a genius. Even all of Oikawa's hard work, putting his physical body at risk, straining himself, and pushing himself-he still got passed by Kageyama's genius ability.

And.

For once;

that was not what occupied his mind.

 _Tobio._ That was what replaced his usual bitter thoughts.

The man had placidly used Kageyama's first name without question. "You're on good terms with Kageyama?" The man stares at him. Oikawa's also surprised by himself as well. After all, this is the first time Oikawa willingly said something. "Kageyama Tobio, I presume?" He wonders aloud delicately.

The man nods. "Yes, actually...I used to be one of Kageyama's old teachers' fiance." He explains. "I don't think his mother remembers me now, but I used to have a fiancee, who was a kindergarten teacher. She knew Kageyama, and was on good terms with him and his mother, so I knew him. He met me a couple times, and I just called him Tobio because my ex-fiancee christened him that as well." He runs coarse finger across the pristine cup's rim, before he continues. "I saw him just a couple days ago while passing by. I recognized him because he didn't change that much, appearance-wise, honestly."

Oikawa nods. That makes sense. However, that doesn't settle the simmering pot of concern working within his stomach. "And well, I saw his jacket, and asked about it. Said he played on the Karasuno's volleyball team." He shrugs.

"Wow, that's great."

 _Yeah. Great._ Oikawa can practically feel the outline of his phone in his backpocket. He seriously wants to text Iwaizumi all about this creep. He's rather used to gossiping and spilling everything to Iwaizumi. And, well, of course, often, Iwaizumi would tell him to shut his mouth for saying everything. Sighing, Oikawa scorns himself mentally. He shouldn't call this person weird without knowing him personally. He inwardly winces. He's being considerate of other people's situation. Dammit. Iwaizumi really is rubbing off on him.

Smirking at that, he snags noodles between his chopsticks, as he finishes off the rest of his meal.

* * *

"What?" Oikawa screeches. "You're seriously kidding me." He scoffs, staring at Watari, unsure if he's amused or not. "Seriously?" He echoes.

Watari narrows his eyes at him, and uses a chiding tone to say: "Oikawa, you should be more concerned! He's been gone for three days. _Three days._ "This isn't funny, okay." He snaps. Oikawa feigns ignorance.

"What? You're making it sound as though I find this whole predicament amusing!" He snickers, unable to avoid the laugh lacing with his voice. "I know this is serious." Honestly, it's not as though Oikawa's happy about this. Sure, he finds it rather entertaining, however, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's a sadist. He's more of a, 'in-the-moment' type of personality. Once, he was told he could be suspended for vandalizing Kageyama's locker with a can of spray-paint, but Oikawa didn't find it concerning until weeks later when he really was, and that's when he broke down.

"Look," Oikawa sighs. "Kageyama's been gone for three days. What for a week to pass, and that's when I'll worry. I mean, come on, Watari-it can't be that bad."

"The police are looking for him!"

"If I haven't heard that he's been missing for three days, _three days-_ Watari, then it can't be that important. After all, I hear everything." Oikawa scoffs. He's honestly disappointed in himself. His standards have lowered one way or another; how did he miss something as exciting as this? Karasuno's genius male setter, disappearing? "And besides, he's probably fine." He reassures.

Iwaizumi approaches the two, and almost instinctively, Oikawa leaps upwards out of joy. "Iwa-chan!" His words form the words perfectly, along with the tone perfected over the years of chirping the nickname. Scowling, his friend shoves Oikawa out of the way. However, unwilling to allow Iwaizumi to disregard him so easily, Oikawa gurgles happily, and clings onto his toned arm in retaliation.

"Oi you bast-"

"Hahaha!" Oikawa chirrups, and nuzzles his face deep into the sleeve of Iwaizumi's uniform, as he leans against the boy. Hearing Iwaizumi yelp by his sudden weight, Iwaizumi staggers backwards as Oikawa practically topples onto him. "Iwa-chan!" He chirps, and the smell of the fabric of his shirt burns his nostrils. Iwaizumi's sweat, which sadly actually smells rather pleasant, it intermingles with the faint scent of lavender, most likely from laundry freshener used to wash the fabric. Delighted by the smell, he digs himself deeper into his shoulder.

* * *

He's going to kill him. And Watari, for just walking away. Glaring at the receding figure of the volleyball player, Iwaizumi swears that he's legitimately going to murder him later. After he first strangles this pest to death. Then, that's when Oikawa slams himself against Iwaizumi's shoulder. Screeching in surprise, he goes toppling underneath the sudden force of Oikawa deciding to put his entire body weight against him. Groaning as his skull smacks against the gym floor underneath him, he hisses in pain, his vision bobbing.

"Bak-" Before he can finish his insult, the sound of footsteps increasing in volume alerts him. Twitching, he cranes his head upwards, trying to peer over Oikawa, who had decided to use him as a body pillow. Snickers erupt nearby. "Help me, or I swear to-" He glowers as Matsukawa crouches over him, a smirk gracing his face.

"Isn't this cute?" Hanamaki appears in Iwaizumi's view. "Aw, I wonder..." Iwaizumi's eyes dilate as a sleek, glossy phone slides into the equation. "If I take a picture and posted it on the internet?"

Snorting, Matsukawa nods furiously. Feeling indignant and rather irritated, he peels Oikawa off his body, and fists the collar of his uniform. Without releasing his grip, he painfully stands upwards, a dull throb penetrating his forehead. "Idiot," he spits bitterly at Oikawa, who laughs, unstable on his feet as Iwaizumi tugs him closer to him by his fingers curled around the hem of his collar. He cocks his free elbow back, ready to slam his fist deep into Oikawa's throat and snap it in half. "I will punch-" His voice halts abruptly, and a strangled, awkward noise replaces his strong tone.

Oikawa, his smiling visage with two contrasting spots of red blossoming across his cheeks, his glistening brown orbs for eyes, and his sly smile.

Blinking, Iwaizumi can feel his neck inflamed, and even Oikawa stops when Iwaizumi left his threat unfinished. Realizing that he's staring and probably making a rather uncomfortable scene, Iwaizumi releases an exasperated sigh, as his mind practically screams at him. Relinquishing his hold on Oikawa's shirt, leaving behind the material crumpled from his fist, he decides that he might as well leave this on a dignified note, and quickly at that. He's unsure how much longer he can stand here before the blush can spread onto his cheeks, where it'll be noticeable by his surrounding teammates. "You're a klutzy idiot." He mutters. "I'll murder you later," he adds, feeling that it's appropriate for him to say so.

Quickly, he turns around, heading for the volleyball net.

This is the first time did he ever stop in the middle of a threat towards Oikawa. First time, did Oikawa's light, breathy chuckle and beaming, animated face cause him to hesitate upon trying to strangle him. First time, did heat bloom, causing a scarlet flush, what he assumes, to appear upon his skin.

Damn. He's going soft on his friend.

* * *

"I couldn't find him. At all." Nishinoya murmurs. "I searched all over downtown, he's gone." His voice cracks, his pupils small from a turbulence of emotions or the sunlight beaming against all of them, Hinata's unsure. Nor does he care. Sighing, the libero collapses onto the bench, brushing his knuckles against his skin, that's covered in a sheen of sweat. Hinata flops down beside him, underneath the unstable, wavering shade casted from the tree planted behind the branch.

Tanaka however, unlike the rest of them, doesn't seem the slightest bit exhausted after spending an hour searching for Kageyama. It's not like they cancelled volleyball practice; rather, they just decided to use that period for another purpose: running around their town, searching for a missing boy. "We...we can still go to the police station, demand for them to look for him now!" Tanaka shouts energetically, flames practically flickering in his glistening eyes.

"Please don't." Asahi murmurs, his voice shaky. Hinata, sighing, pulls his knees to his chest, and tightly wraps his arms around his bare legs, curling into the tightest form he physically can. He's uncomfortable. His shirt had sopped up the excessive sweat the sun didn't evaporate, thus, his shirt's plastered onto his flesh [which he detests], and his feet are sore and his mouth run ragged from dryness. Licking his capped lips, Hinata stares over his knees he rested his chin on, and at his unlaced shoes. Asahi's apparently not done, as he continues. With each continuing word, the nervousness infused with his voice becomes more pronounced, and Hinata can feel the pit of despair and hopelessness that was dwelling in his stomach darken. "There's one option left, you know. He could've been kidnapped."

Hinata had explored that idea already. However, having someone clearly suggest it, is as though it concretes his concern and worry. His breathing shallows, hit breath hitching in his swollen throat. He swallows painfully to unclog his throat, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. As if noticing this, Sugawara lightly smacks Asahi's broad back with a frown. "We shouldn't think things like that."

 _"It's been three days!"_ Hinata screeches. They stare him, and Hinatai reluctantly continues. "There's nothing else to think. Most likely, he has been kidnapped." He explains. "The...the kidnapper must really be strong for him to overpower Kageyama." He wheezes, his voice hoarse.

"No," a firm voice rebukes his claim. He detaches his eyes from his tattered shoes, and stares at Kiyiko, who for once, isn't clutching any sort of clipboard. She begins to comb her hair into a ponytail. The heat must be getting to her as well, as beads of sweat dots near her jawline. "He could've drugged Kageyama for all we know. While the possibility of Kageyama's disappearance based on kidnapping is one of our highest possibilities; we shouldn't determine who could've taken him when we have nothing to go on." She states coldly, as she collapses on the bench as well. Her posture, for one of the first times Hinata as seen, is no longer firm and straight; rather, slouched and her spine arched.

"Damn police." Hinata slowly revolves his head to the side, and it rounds to Nishinoya. "Fucking police!" Nishinoya's voice increases in volume, and rage causes his voice to shatter into fragments. "They're not doing the best they can!" He screams, leaping off the bench, and kicks a pebble while at it. It skids and scrapes across the apshalt.

Even Tsukki, who they dragged along when he was reluctant to come along, seems slightly troubled. More irritated, honestly. Probably annoyed that they spent their whole afternoon searching for a boy, and concluding with no results. "Stop," Diachi snaps, composed despite the nervous expression flitting across his countenance. "Noya, the police...they did the best they could've."

The small boy just glares at Diachi, his eyes narrowed and retinas vivid. However, he knots his lips in distaste, no longer screaming words with incohereable logic.

Hinata averts his eyes, clapping them on the glistening concrete.

He's sure that they can find Kageyama. At least, that's the only way he can think. Because...he cannot image nor visualize a future without Kageyama. Why? He doesn't know. It's foreign. His mind cannot muddle through all the confusion and create a pathway where he would head if they really don't find Kageyama. This scares him. Was he always this dependent? Did he really see Kageyama as that important?

It's not bad.

Hinata likes the prospect that he values Kageyama as his closest friend. Closer than the old friends he used to hang out with at his previous school.

What scares him more, is the aspect of losing his treasured friend. [I just fucking friendzoned Kageyama. Ha. ha. ha.]

* * *

Taking satisfaction in spitting onto the face of Daniel, Kageyama raises the frying pan, brandishing it. Surprisingly, this frying pan is quite lethal in this case. "Asshat." Kageyama snarls, feeling a throaty growl tear out his throat. Sachiko withers in a corner, ashen and stiff. "Just tell me the fucking password." He whispers, his voice dropping octaves lower.

"Don't call your dad that. And I won't stand to hear you say another swear again." Daniel responds automatically, his voice threatening; almost as scary as Kageyama's at the moment. "If you let me go now, I assure you your consequence won't be-" Before he can finish such a sentence, Kageyama slams the back of his fist against his cheek, and cracks his knuckles against his cheekbones.

"Sto-" Sachiko's distinct voice shrieks.

"You-!" Kageyama whips around, still clenching onto the pink rubber grip of the black pan. His anger, flaring and tears of frustration being forced away as he refuses to cry in front of Daniel, he probably looks either broken, or highly dangerous and possibly unstable. He hopes the latter. His breathing heavy, he stifles his cough, and his temper simmers at the sight of Sachiko, who's trembling. He can't possibly be mad at such a broken person. "Just shut up." He finishes lamely, his voice no longer overflowing with emotions or unstable in the ranges of volumes, but rather, cold and toneless.

He faces towards Daniel, who he had tied with the colorful curtains, onto one of the wooden chairs. "Aw, Tobio, I forgive you-" _Forgive me?_ Kageyama stares at him incredulously, but then, he realizes, as he fixates his attention upon him, that his vision of Daniel is swaying and blurry. Shit. He's crying. Probably from emotions. Kageyama isn't used to facing such trauma and bottling in emotions for so long. He doesn't know what to do with emotions half the time; normally, he'd just run away and cry, burning himself up at a secluded area. But here, here he is, faced with a situation like this. He unconsciously couldn't continue blinking back the tears.

Daniel must've mistaken the reason for his tears. Is Daniel seriously that arrogant? So horrifyingly delusional that he believes that Kageyama's crying for _hurting him_? Does he think that Kageyama would feel horrible for treating him like shit, after he locked him up in his freaking basement? That reignites his anger and building hatred for this man. "What's. The. Code." He hisses while gnawing his bottom lip out of anticipation.

"I'd rather die than tell you," Daniel murmurs. He's not taking him seriously. After all, his tone had softened. He's delusional enough, enough to trick himself into believe that Kageyama has some sort of love for him.

Mental. Horrible. Delusional. Breathing heavily, Kageyama quickly snatches the knife off the table where their unfinished meal lies. The same knife used to slice the roast. "Which eye do you plan on losing first?" He inwardly cringes at his trembling hand. Surely Daniel, being seemingly perceptive and cunning despite obviously having something wrong with his mind, will notice his shaking hand. "Left, or right?" He continues, inhaling shakily.

"Look at you. Trembling like a dog. You can't do this." Kageyama glowers at him, and sends another string of saliva in his direction. He hoped that the man, taunting his pride and strength, mocking him despite being in the lower hand at the moment, would cause him to snap. Cause him to lose himself in reckless rage and actually perform his thoughts of stabbing out his eye. But it didn't happen. "You can't kill me. And you know that."

Kageyama stares at him. Then...then...this surely wouldn't kill him.

He slams the blade deep into his left wrist, which was knotted down onto one of the armrests of the chair. Raw screams leave the man's mouth, and Kageyama automatically drops the blade at his sudden voice, and he leaps back, watching in horror as crimson blood gushes out the deep marking he inflicted upon the man. And it's not only him; Kageyama vaguely hears feminine screams, and ignoring Sachiko, refusing to dare look in the direction of where the higher-pitched screams are coming from, he focuses upon the man, who's shaking in his chair, desperately trying to escape.

"What's...the code," he asks meekly, no longer a question. A statement. _"Just tell me what the code is!"_

"You're screaming. You're hurting more than I am. You can't do this Tobio. You can't do this. You can't stab me more than once, I think we both know that." Kageyama stares at the man. He's right. He had been screaming. His voice run ragged, his tears streaking down his cheeks, and bleeding heavily; this man continues to taunt him. He's strong. Mentally stronger than Kageyama could ever be. "And now that I know that, I'll never...never say the code."

Raising the frying pan he disposed on the counter, he's ready to slam it once more against the man's head, settling for the fact that at least he can knock him unconscious once more; a sudden scream causes him to drop the pan and it clatters onto the ground. His body snapping against the ground, he gasps, looking upwards. Sachiko had pushed him aside, and is now furiously yanking at the curtains he wrapped around Daniel.

"Sachiko don't-" The man shoves the chair aside, and it tips over, clattering onto the floor. Kageyama, his body, out of reflex, leaps to the side and he gropes for the frying pan which had hit the ground with a _clank._

He didn't reach it in time.

* * *

"I'm sorry if you felt betrayed." He doesn't answer. Kageyama's body, sore and bruised, isn't the only reason why he refuses to reply. His was throat run ragged from screaming from earlier, and the outside, his neck, throbbing from the bruises of Daniel gripping tightly on it, before slamming his head against the pink counter. He doesn't even blink at Sachiko's voice, and not when the bed creaks, indicating she had seated herself down on his bed. He continues to stare at the wall through sore and pulsing eyes. He can't even cry at the moment. Doesn't have the energy.

And even when against Daniel, he tried his hardest to refuse to cry. And Daniel, sensing the rebelliousness, broke his arm. It doesn't hurt. Not anymore. Now, his arm is completely numb, unless if he shifts it in general. "Look, I had to stop you!" Kageyama's not mad at her. Rather, he feels indifferent. It doesn't matter anymore.

Daniel's stronger; both physically and mentally.

He might as well give up.

However, the prospect of being stuck here is even scarier; it's the only thing at the moment that can make him feel anything in general. "If I didn't stop you, then you would've ended up like Yuka!" Is she still talking? Kageyama winces, his migraine worsening at her increasing volume. And it takes him a couple seconds to digest and register her actual words. Slowly, he sits upright, his body wincing in pain. His vision blurring if he moves his eyes or head too fast, he slowly rounds to Sachiko.

"W-who's Yuka?" He wheezes, forcing the words out. His chest clenches, and he shivers.

Sachiko stares at him with sad eyes. Her tone, gentler than previously, soothes Kageyama from the pounding silence. "Yuka was our daughter..." So he's done this before. "But she had no love for him." Her voice hardens. "Because she had no love for him, she always tried to escape. She always went against him. Now she's gone."

 _Gone._ Being too tired and lackluster of any sort of motivation or energy, he just turns to her, knowing she can probably read his question through his dullen, swollen and bloodshot eyes. "No. He didn't kill him." She whispers, responding to the unspoken question. "He made me kill her-" And for the first time in a couple hours, he cares.

His breathing shallows, as he struggles to respire air at the news. "I had to kill her-" Her voice cracks, her shoulders racking from dry sobs. "I had to kill Yuka. Our daughter." She mutters. "She trusted me. She liked me. And I had to kill her while he held her down." She wheezes, and using the sleeves of her orchid dress, she sponges up the tears that streak down her cosmetic-caked face. "I'm not going through that again. I'm sorry, but I can't go through that again."

"H-how could you love him?" He mutters. He can tell. She loves him. Whatever Daniel had done to Sachiko...he doesn't know. Kageyama at least will take satisfaction in knowing that he can't love him. He will never love him. If he breaks, and succumbs to Daniel's orders, so be it. But at least he'll never love him as a father or as anything; and he hopes that Daniel will notice that, and that'll be Kageyama's last laugh.

"He just wants what's best for us!"

He shakes his head, despite how much it hurts his bruised and swollen neck. _No. No he doesn't! He doesn't love you! You've been here for years. Of course you'd believe that; it's because you're fucking mental, fucking crazy. You didn't have a choice but to believe that he loves you._ He wants to scream his thoughts; voice them aloud. Hell; but it hurts to just think that. How can he believe that he can even utter a sentence of his thoughts?

"Does your arm hurts?" She expertly ignores the slight shake of his head. "I tried to replace the bones in its rightful place. Wasn't hard; thankfully, it only snapped into two pieces." _Yeah, thankfully_ , he venomously echoes in his head. "I also tried to bandage your heads and stuff. At least you don't need stitches. It might take a month for you to heal."

A month.

Kageyama hopes to leave this place before that month happens.

* * *

I actually updated.

:D

I'm sorry.

Is this cliche?

SOmeone pls review.

PLS  
PLS

I NEED IDEAS  
HELP  
SOMETHING  
and i need to add tsukki and yamaguchi in more. my two smol babiges.

Lol i just said tsukki was small.

I need more kuroo.


	4. Chapter 4

Dislcaimer, I don't own Haikyuu!

So I was gone for April break, thus, I didn't have time to update because I was spending time with my famlly.

But now that I'm bad, yay!

* * *

"Don't do this to me." Oikawa hisses, fisting his friend's jersey. "Please, just make up some sort of excuse!" He yelps. Iwaizumi stares back at the pleading boy, unimpressed. Sighing, Oikawa then widens his eyes to unfathomable sizes. His doe eyes.

There it is. The faint signal of hesitation. Iwaizumi's eyes twitch at the sight of his eyes, and inwardly, Oikawa smirks. His friend has absolutely no resolve against his eyes.

Then the fist kisses his cheek. Releasing a rather high-pitched scream at the punch, he landed ungracefully onto the floor. "Iwa-chan!" He shrieks with little to no dignity. "Don't leave me!" He simpers, as he sits onto his knees. Did the punch sting? Of course it did. But he'll live; but he's not sure if he wants to if he really has to go to Daniel's house again.

Scoffing, his tanned friend faces his friend. Oikawa doesn't show his absolute desperation for Iwaizumi to bail him out. He doesn't want to seem that pathetic, despite how low he's already sunken in this state. "It was your fault for accepting."

"I couldn't turn him down!" Oikawa groans. Why did he accept the invitation to help Daniel's son study? Curiosity, perhaps. He's pretty sure that Daniel did mention a son the other day when he was forced to eat a meal with him-but Daniel just didn't seem to be the type to _have_ kids. And besides; he has yet to see a kid leave Daniel's household. And the other day, when he was in his house, it just...looked so mature. So boring. No toys. No video games. All neat and polished. What sort of kid would live in such a house?

"Well, it's your fault. I can't go over and bail you out of helping him study. It'd be awkward to just knock on his door and ask if you were there." Iwaizumi states flatly.

"Please save me!"

"Go away."

"But Iwa-chan!"

"Don't you have class right now?"

 _"Iwa-chan!"_

"Please die."

* * *

Scowling, Kageyama wonders how she does it. How does Sachiko continue to smile with such a pleasant, sweet grin despite who she's forced to live with? Kageyama's unable to grin as sugary as her. At least, not on purpose. He believes there are times when he's able to smile somewhat pleasantly, but then, there are other times whenever he forcefully tries to curl his lips upwards, does he seem rather sinister.

He doesn't know how to smile normally in this environment.

Thus, he just does an alternative; try not to spit and scowl every time Daniel enters the room. Then again, last night, he left Kageyama bleeding and curled up in silence while trying to lessen his pain. He may leave a pile of saliva in his food tonight, just out of spite.

As if on cue to his thoughts, his arm throbs in the makeshift sling that Sachiko created for him. "Please pass me the salts." Mutely, he uses his good hand and grabs the saltshaker and handed it to Sachiko.

She had insisted for him to rest. But he doesn't. His throat has relieved itself from its swelling, and honestly, it's only physical pain that's limiting his movements. His arm's the worst of it all. He does have stitches [and unfortunately, the stitches were _pink. Pink.]_ but other than that, he believes he should heal normally. His arm, he believes, is the real problem. Just a little movement that concerns the said arm, leaves it aching in pain.

And his body may be sores from bruises; but then again, Nishinoya always receives bruises from being a libero and slamming onto the hard ground of the volleyball court, so Kageyama believes that he can still take it. _Nishinoya. I wonder how he's doing?_

"May you pass me the knife?" Grabbing the knife, he raises his eyebrows. Unlike the previous knife he held, this one had a plastic, pale blue handle, with red hearts lining the ends of it. _You got to be fucking kidding me,_ he thinks dryly, as he hands over the knife.

Sighing, he finally says: "You know...you don't want to be here." A clank signals that she had stopped what she's doing. "You love Daniel. But he doesn't love you-"

"Tobio, stop."

"We have to get out of here-"

 _"Tobio!"_

"Why do you think he loves you?"

Silence. He inwardly applauds himself as he fixates his gaze on the pink counter. Wincing, he feels his head pulsates as he stares at the edge of the counter. That's where Daniel had decided to slam the side of his head against.

"He just wants what's best for us." Kageyama inclines his head slightly, as he faces the trembling woman, whose eyes are clapped on the bowl in her hands.

They don't speak for the remainder of the period, where he quietly helps her make lunch.

* * *

Swiveling his head around, Oikawa supposes that nobody would notice if he ran off at the moment. Sure, his footsteps are planted firmly on the carpet of the doorsteps, but nobody's around. Nobody would witness him running away and into his house which is just a couple feet away. Sighing, he relenquishes his grip on his backpack's straps. He already promised Daniel, he might as well go and help his son study.

Reluctantly, he pushes the doorbell.

For a couple seconds, nobody answered. Relief floods throughout him, and he pivots on his heels, ready to saunter off, only for a creak to alert his mind. The door squeaks on its hinges as it flings open. _Great._ Vulgar language spoken in a sarcastic tone quickly clouds his mind. "Oikawa, nice to see you!" His lips twitches in retaliation, but he pulls on a smile.

"Ah, Daniel, it's nice to see you too." _Daniel._ What an odd name for someone living in Japan. Granted, he seems more American judging by his appearance, but his Japanese is fluent and intelligent. "So, I'm here to help your son study..."

"Yes, yes, come in!" Nodding in acknowledgment towards Daniel's class as he holds open the door, Oikawa steps into the household. Once again, the gray tones clash with his colorful aura, but he ignores it. Seriously, what sort of kid would even inhabit such a house when it looks...so adult-style? So mature and proper?

Peeling off his shoes, he leaves them at the doorstep as Daniel closes the door behind him. _Only for one afternoon, Tooru. You can do this._ He mentally tries to support himself. "So, where's your son?" He questions.

"Ah, he's playing in the basement at the moment-"

Oikawa didn't even register Daniel's next actions, because of the speed. His mind quickly shuts down at the smell of the cloth that Daniel gripped across his nose and mouth. The clothe that quickly encased his mouth and mouth was held tightly, and Oikawa's unable to register the thought to _fucking run._

Probably the only thing he can actually digest with his drowsy brain [before it finally submerged into unconsciousness] is;

 _Daniel definitely lied about having a kid._

* * *

Pink. The only color that he sees the moment his mind decides to wake up. Through blurry and disorientated vision, he's only able to see pink. Then he jackknifes upright, screaming. He's not that stupid. He's able to put two and two together-Daniel just knocked him unconscious. _With a cloth. He just fucking did that. I really do live with a total creep-_

"Hey." If possible, his scream leaps an octave higher. "Shut up!" The angrily familiar voice finally snaps, and Oikawa's mouth, for some odd reason, finally snaps shut. He quickly looks to the side, desperately looking for the source of the noise-

Fuck.

"Kageyama?" Oikawa flinches at the croaking tone of his voice. Perhaps he whittled his voice down to just a hoarse whisper from screaming for two minutes straight. "What- _wait._ What are you wearing?"

"Of course that's the first thing you notice." The boy glares at him. However, his cobalt eyes cause no affect among Oikawa, as Oikawa's eyes focus on the discoloration that splotches his skin in colors of purple, yellow and green.

"What happened to your face?"

Perhaps Oikawa should've filtered his words and thoughts, but he was only able to blurt that out as he slowly wobbles on his feet. The ground sways from underneath him. He was sitting on a pastel-colored couch. "I got punched. What else does it look like, dumbass?" Bandages. That's what else.

"Why do you look like a hospital patient?"

Then, an unfamiliar lady approaches him from behind Kageyama. "I see you two already know each other!" The lady smiles. Oikawa recognizes such a grin. He always wears one. One that's only used towards others; never real, just fake and calculating to please. "Well, Tooru-" _Tooru._ "Welcome to you new home! You're now Tobio-kun's older brother!"

He wants to scream again.

1) He's stuck in a very colorful room that looks as though unicorns barfed over it

2) He has no idea where he is and all he can remember is walking into Daniel's house to help his non-existent son

3) The woman just positioned him as _Kageyama's older brother._

* * *

He sputters on his cup of noodles, as he stares at his mother in disbelief. "No, no, maybe I was mistaken." She murmurs, her wrinkles deepening as she frowns. Despite the faint creases, she still remains beautiful.

"Uh, mom." Kuroo stammers, as he sets down his cup of instant noodles. His mother, leaping through the door like some sort of savage beast, slamming open the door and such while muttering incoherable words, caused him to spill his noodles over his jacket. Sighing, he unzips it, and yanks the blemished jacket off. "What's wrong?" He questions. His mother's never fearful. Perhaps once or twice she was afraid, but that was back when he was younger and his dad was still around.

But not anymore; instead, she's usually the one to chase off people with her intense attitude.

"Shh, Tetsurou." His mother snaps, and automatically and out of habit, he shuts up. "I...no...I probably mistaken it." She mutters.

"What?" Kuroo hisses, unable to contain his irritation and curiosity. He's curious on what exactly made his mother look as though she just seen an unspeakable, horrifying monster.

"Nothing. I thought...I just thought I saw your dad."

Oh. So she did actually see an unspeakable, horrifying monster.

"No," Kuroo flinches at how feeble his voice sounds. "Mom...he's gone. I don't think you saw him." _I really don't._ Sure, Kuroo may quiver slightly at the mention of his previous dad-but that doesn't mean he legitimately believes that he exists around where they live now. Last time they seen him, he's left for America to escape his old life. "I'm pretty sure that he's somewhere in what's it called-Woming?"

"It's Wyoming, darling."

* * *

Kuroo Tetsurou continued the rest of his day normally. No fears to plague him anymore. That is, until the next day, he heard of the new gym teacher at Karasuno.

"Yeah, apparently his name is Daniel James; an American! I wonder if he looks like an American-"

Kuroo stops listening there, as he runs home, ditching volleyball practice.

Tearing through the streets, he quickly runs home. His mother's car is still there. Great, that means she has yet to leave for work.

"Mom!" He screeches, as he nearly gives his mother a heart-attack when he practically breaks the door off its hinges. "You weren't wrong-"

* * *

Kinda short. Sorry.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Haikyuu!

* * *

He screams. Kuroo feels as though it'd be an appropriate response.

Many kids don't scream when he sees their father standing in their living room, along with their mother.

Well, he does.

"Why is he here?" He doesn't even acknowledge his father as he turns instinctively to his mother.

"Tets-" His father's edgy voice begins.

 _"Tetsorou, shut up!"_ -Is what Kuroo half expects his father to say. But instead, he continues to, "I missed you so much."

"OH MY GOD YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT-" Kuroo would be completely scared of even the prospect of shouting at his father. He still is, he suspects, as he flinches, half expecting a blow to the side of his cheek. _"MOM why is he here?"_ The voices of his mother and father are blurring in the background noise as his vision sways. His breaths now shallow, he can feel the inferno hatred for his father quickly become the fires of hell.

He's panicking. He can tell that.

Right now, he can only imagine his father hitting his mother repeatedly, and all he can do is stand there.

Right now, that's all he can see.

He can't see his mother grasping at his hands, which were outstretched into an accusatory finger, he can't see his father stare at him with the look of disappointment in him, he can only see the visions of his past.

He can vaguely hear his mother shouting at his father to leave.

The shut of a door.

Daniel leaves.

Kuroo, able to regain self-control, stops shouting at nothing, as he quickly breaks down, his knees buckling as he collapses onto the floor, now no longer screaming. Just crying now. His mother, trying to comfort him, as they're left alone in their house.

He's really back.

* * *

 _Oikawa isn't here._ To say that he's generally disappointed is somewhat of an understatement. Iwaizumi is well aware on how he's actually rather dependent on Oikawa. It's a scary thought. He knows. But it's completely true. Oikawa's been his best friend ever since they were children. And it's not the amount of time that they knew each other was what made him irreplaceable-it was their relationship and knowledge about one another.

And Iwaizumi knows that Oikawa wouldn't skip out walking with him because of moving, because just yesterday they walked to school with one another, and he seemed generally fine with the idea of shortening their time together to school. Iwaizumi pretends as though such a thought didn't bother him. However, he supposes it's normal, isn't it? They've been friends for so long, that Iwaizumi wouldn't want anything different between them. Probably.

It's strange, he decides. Walking to school alone. No annoying little questions that always fill up the silence that's now suffocating him. There's also this new odd sensation and awkwardness of just walking by himself. And now, he also has time to think at all; when he walked with Oikawa, his mind was occupied by him. He had fixated his entire system on controlling that brat.

So now, he doesn't know what to do, as he slowly walks to school. He isn't sure why he is heading so slowly. Is he hoping that Oikawa is late and will run up to heel with him within a couple minutes? Sighing, he forces himself to move at a quicker pace. What he finds is truly irritating, is how he didn't decide just to go and visit Oikawa's house to see if he's sick. But it'd be a ten minute walk to his house, which would make him late for school. Well, if he heads back now, he'll definitely miss a bit of first period, especially at the rate of speed he's using at the moment.

So, instead, he clenches the straps of his backpack, as he begins to run across the sidewalk, to try and dissipate the disturbing thought in the back of his head, which went a little like:

 _I really hope that Oikawa's just sick, and he's not at school today._

What the hell is wrong with me?

 _I wish that so then it means he's not ditching me on purpose._

He chuckles, somewhat panting as he is running. His feet sting as he slaps the asphalt with such force, but he welcomes it. How selfish of him. So desperate for Oikawa's presence, craving for his friendship that he's willing to sacrifice Oikawa's health just to satisfy his insatiable greed for Oikawa's positive feelings for him.

Shaking his head, he walks the rest of the way to school in a defeated manner.

* * *

"Still not here?" Iwaizumi inwardly curses as Kyoutani shakes his head mutely. He doesn't offer any other words of any sort, no encouragement, support, or even excess details. Kyoutani doesn't just not say redundant sentences-he rarely talks in general. Yahaba approaches the two of them, and Iwaizumi frowns, noting how Kyoutani automatically stiffens at his presence. He wonders if those two have gotten along, regardless of what happened between the two in the locker room, where Yahaba decided to release his fury on his teammate.

"Shittykawa." Iwaizumi's teeth click together as his jaw shifts, indicating that he's incredibly annoyed. But underneath that front of irritation, is rather obvious that he's incredibly concerned over Oikawa's sudden absence. He's not that obsessive or worried-it's just that Oikawa would always call or text him if he was sick. And today, he hasn't. He hasn't acknowledged Iwaizumi at once. Which is surprising, as normally, Iwaizumi has to mute his phone notifications because of Oikawa's constant spam.

He runs to the locker room, and quickly yanks out his bag. Lying it in among bundles of sweaty clothes and other hygenic materials used for sports, is his mobile phone. Reaching for it, he's ready to call Oikawa's cell, until his own device begins to ring. What a coincidence, and extremely convenient, he decides, as he stares at the I.D. of the caller. Oikawa's mother.

Picking up the call, his concern begins to ebb away. Honestly, the possibility that Oikawa had forgotten to charge his phone or something ignorant and stupid such as that, is actually not that impossible. And for Oikawa to beg his mom to call Iwaizumi to provide reassurance on him, also doesn't sound that extreme. These events could actually happen.

So, his worry dissipates, as relief floods his mind. He tries to sound neutral as he speaks, "Hey."

 _"Hey, Iwaizumi-kun,"_ a feminine voice crackles through. Now, Iwaizumi is dense. He is quite aware of that part. However, even someone as oblivious as him, can decipher the hurried and rushed words that are slightly slurred together. She's worried. The smoldering remains of Iwaizumi's concern reignites. _"I was wondering, have you seen Tooru at school today?"_

"Ah...no." Such a question automatically causes him to feel unease. "Why do you ask?" _Isn't it obvious? That one question already eliminated the majority of excuses for Oikawa's absence._

 _"He's gone! I don't know where he is! He disappeared this afternoon, saying he has to go help my neighbor's son study, but after that, he...just...vanished! And our neighbor said that he doesn't know and that he saw Oikawa go back home after he finished studying with his son!"_ She screeches, any sort of composure shattering.

 _He's gone._

Iwaizumi's so going to drag his sorry ass back home, he decides, as he continues to converse with Oikawa-san. After all, if Oikawa really did disappear-Iwaizumi's sure to find him and make him apologize to his mother for causing so much trouble.

* * *

"I told my mom that I went studying at your house. Pretty soon, they'll find out you don't have a son. What are you going to do then?" Kageyama watches with an uninterested manner as Oikawa continues to storm through the house. Now he's making up fake arguments to later converse with Daniel, who's currently doing his work.

Sighing, Kageyama rounds to Oikawa. "Please stop." He grumbles.

The beautiful setter turns to him, his eyes dilating to such a scary width, that Kageyama seriously wonders if that's even physically possible. "Did you just say 'please'?"

Kageyama has been using common etiquette and manners for so long, he hasn't even noticed how strange it really is. So, at Oikawa's observation, he nearly chokes on respiring air. "Shut up." He's unable to prevent the heat from flushing underneath his skin, highlighting his cheeks a dusty shade of pink. "And for fuck's sake, please don't start picking fights with Daniel. He's incredibly smart. He'll probably find something in response to the 'son' argument, and..."

His voice trails off.

Daniel's incredibly smart and physically strong.

It's as if the pain that lasted in his body within these past two days have intensified. The maniacal look of desperation in Daniel's eyes. Kageyama has seen it when Daniel overpowered him and shattered his arm. He hadn't focused on the pain back then. He wasn't even aware of his snapped arm, which had left two jagged ends to his broken bones, and it had punctured through his skin. [Yay, more stitches to where the bone had shredded his flesh] He hadn't noticed any of that. His attention was fixated onto the intense gaze of Daniel's slanted eyes.

Kageyama has never met an evil man.

Jackasses, maybe [coughcoughTsukkicough].

But never a savage creature.

He quickly changed that thought after seeing Daniel when he's mad.

"Kageyama?" Blinking, Kageyama quickly drags himself out of his submerged memories. What he's seriously scared of, however, is the newfound fear for Daniel. He really does fear him. And that honestly scares Kageyama more than anything, because will that affect his willpower to get out of here? He doesn't want to be a coward. He knows being scared doesn't necessarily mean he is necessarily a pathetic coward, but what happens if he becomes one? He shifts his field of vision, to focus on Sachiko, who's humming delightfully to herself. She's definitely listening in to their conversation.

"Oi, Kageyama?"

"What?" He snaps sharply, his fear causing his anger to flare. His anger is his only defense against the rational trepidation of Daniel's maniacal behavior, and against the thought of the existent fright that had taken root in his mind, and slowly festering and growing with the speed of a plague, clouding his thoughts and senses.

"You looked out of it for a moment. And don't frown like that-you'll get wrinkles."

"Why are you taking this so lightly?"

Oikawa blinks, and stares at Kageyama. Then, Kageyama's eyes focus on his attire. That volleyball sweatshirt, hanging loosely on Oikawa's slender frame. _Karasuno. How are they now?_ "Well." Oikawa's annoying animated voice helps chase away Kageyama's thoughts of agony. "I guess it's because they'll eventually find us, right? I mean, this is the house of my _neighbor's._ Eventually, someone will find us, isn't that right?"

 _Yeah. That's what I thought too._

Kageyama came to realize that his hope and faith in his town had already vanished, leaving only a faint streak of residue, that's quickly fading away. He's independent. He has struggled with his character, until he finally developed into relying on his teammates. He's beginning to realize how he's actually relying on his friends. _Friends._ His first, only real friends. His heart clenches.

He doesn't like his previous-self. Will he apologize for it? Surely. But he doesn't regret it. Because then, or else, how would he end up like the person he is now? He doesn't want to revert back to his arrogant, haughty personality, who can't handle the thought of relying on others.

But slowly, he can feel his poisoned heart losing hope, and his mind, injected with the thought that, even though his friends will surely look for him [which he somewhat doubts], the possibility of them even finding him is little to nothing, if one thinks about it logically.

He's coming to terms and conclusions that he's stuck here forever. And that, that scares him even more than his pertrubed feelings for Daniel.

He wants to scream.

"Kageyama. You lose too much hope." _This guy reads people too well._ Kageyama blankly turns to Oikawa, whose eyebrows had puckered together, and a scornful countenance crossing his features. "Have a little more faith, you know." He adds with a chiding tone.

"No, you don't understand." Kageyama wheezes. "He's a monster. There's no way out of here...I won't learn to love him. I won't. But at the same time, I'm stuck here forever, aren't I?" He whispers. He takes satisfaction in the sudden expression of anxiety and doubt that invades Oikawa's positive countenance. Oikawa stares at him, stunned. _"You don't get it._ I've only been here...how long-four, five something days? And already I know we're dealing with something that we can't control and we can't stop." He's breaking down.

He's breaking down.

 _You can't break down. It's letting him win._

Kageyama's worthless pride quickly bonds him back together, as he struggles to remain composure. Horrified by the cracks in his voice and the glossy look from his watery eyes, he struggles to remain sophisticated and calm.

What he says next doesn't match his blank expression, as he can hear his insides screaming. Not from the pain [he has to take Advil and painkillers. Daniel was 'kind' enough to buy medication for his arm. He didn't bother with the bruises or cuts, though]. No, he's not crying from the pain.

He's crying from the hopelessness and fear of being trapped here. He's going to slowly go insane.

 _I want to go home._

 _I want to see my friends._

 _I want to hear Tsukkishima be a bitch._ _I want to argue with Hinata._ _I want Sugawara to be there and support me along with Dadchi._ _I want to witness Tanaka to rip off his shirt and scream while flipping everyone off._ _I want Nishinoya to always be perceptive and give advice regardless of being a little piece of shit._ _I want Asahi to make me smile again._ _I want Kiyiko to support us while Yachi smiles. I want to see Yamaguchi's perseverance to pay off. I want to see everyone again._

I want to see Natsu and Hinata once more.

I want to talk to my parents.

I want to play volleyball.

 _I want to cry._

But instead, Kageyama just clenches his trembling hands, and stares Oikawa in the eye. "Don't let him break you." He instantly regrets those words, thinking that he's basically admitting to the fact that he himself, had been defeated. But really, Kageyama doesn't believe that it's that impossible. He's already broken. Physically, more than mentally. It's more like a small crack in his mentality. It's like his mentality is a glass pane, and his scared variables are the cracks itself. Daniel is slowly making the cracks, making the fear, increase, by using mental and physical means.

He's going to break first, he knows it. And honestly, he'd much rather die than to stay here forever. But deep down, he knows that he's more scared of dying. He doesn't want to die.

A coward.

Ergo-

He's trapped in this hell.

* * *

Hinata, regardless of meeting the new, sophisticated coach who's incredibly kind, he cannot help but feel incredibly worried. His fatigue from the lack of sleep [at night, that's when his troublesome thoughts, usually aroused from the situation of Kageyama missing, pester and jab at him] and his disquiet is beginning to affect his volleyball practices.

However, everyone else seems a little off. Nobody seems to care about impressing the new coach, anymore. Even Tsukishima, who Hinata would assume to pretend as if everything's all right by playing normally and expertly as before, seems somewhat troubled. He doesn't even bother to leer at his horrible play through.

Eventually, Daichi decided to explain to the coach. "I'm sorry. We're just...somewhat...off. I'm sure you heard of this, but Kageyama, a teammate of ours, has disappeared. We're all kind of worried."

"Oh?" Daniel asks, leaning downwards. _Daniel._ Even through his haze of disconcert, Hinata is able to realize how weird American names are. "Is that so? I have heard. Kageyama Tobio, isn't it?"

 _Tobio._

They nod in unison, while some murmurs of agreement hiss into the tense atmosphere. "Well. I'm very sorry for your loss. But if you think about it, it's only been a couple days, am I right?" This time, Hinata doesn't even bother to mutely nod. He just stares to the side, allowing his focus to be taken up from the stray volleyball that's slowly rolling forward from just seconds earlier when they were practicing.

"If it's only been a couple days, the possibility of finding him isn't that far." He sighs.

"We think he might be kidnapped." Tanaka automatically blurts out, and Hinata flinches. It may sound childish and theatrical out loud, but in reality, it's probably the most logical response they have.

Daniel seems somewhat startled by their theory. "Well...I mean...if he was kidnapped, which actually, is a very logical choice, then if you think about it, then wouldn't the kidnapper be far away by now? I'm sorry for saying that, but it's been a couple days. The possibility of him still being in town is very small."

Hinata was not prepared from Daniel's bluntness.

* * *

How troublesome. Already they had jumped to the conclusion that he's been kidnapped? No matter. Daniel supposes it was a matter of time. But he assumed that they were all dunces, so he didn't predict for them to think so logically. His eyes quickly flicker over to the pretty female who's seated nearby on the bleachers. Granted, she may have came up with the idea. Kiyiko, he believes, is rather smart and thinks rationally.

Sighing, he decides that he has to tread slowly. They're still kids, and still have a relationship with Kageyama. Soon though, that relationship will fade into nothingness as he severs the tie between them. He wants to tell them to get over it; because so then they can move on, and leave him and Kageyama alone.

 _He's mine._

But he decides against that. He doesn't want to seem inconsiderate and incompetent. He needs to seem caring, and nurturing, yet firm enough, so then he may persuade for them to move on. He also has to come up with an excuse for when the police come over to question about him obviously being the last person to see Oikawa.

As it hasn't been twenty-four hours yet, to report a missing child would be too early at this time.

But he doesn't need the excess hours. He'll just explain that he doesn't really have a son when the police questions him. He'll say that by 'son', he really means one of his students. He used to teach in the English major, after all, when he was younger. He can say one of his students was visiting him, and it was one who was very close to him, and considering how he didn't have a father figure, he took over the position as the 'father', explaining why he said the kid was his son.

The police won't look into it, he's sure. After all, to find a specific common American name among his entire list of his students he taught previously would take forever. And, he would seem innocent enough. He would also say that the boy went back to America. They probably won't look into his past, and realize that at each school he teaches, a young kid goes missing right before he disappears.

After all, those are in the America profiles. They'll never suspect him, or take the time to even consider him as a suspect.

But right now, he has to earn the trust of these teammates.

And it'd be a way to learn more about his son, as well.

* * *

"You hit me in the face." Kenma states indifferently with a deadpanned expression. Kuroo laughs sheepishly. _"In the face,_ Kuroo." Now, Kenma isn't necessarily angry. After all, his physical features are still intact and honestly, he feels fine other than a sharp stinging sensation near his cheek. However, for Kuroo to do such a flimsy toss is completely unknown to everything that Kenma knows about his best friend.

The tall boy strides over, flushing at his mistake. Probably interpreting Kenma's echo on words as him being irritated, Kuroo automatically apologizes: "Oops, sorry I-"

Kenma quickly leaves those words stunted and faded, as he intervenes. "What's bothering you?" Rarely anything breaks Kuroo's concentration of the volleyball court. Sure, Kuroo may be completely reckless, but he's logical and at least is rational whenever he's doing something he enjoys and wants to perform well in.

"Nothing's bothering me."

They stare at each other.

An outsider would look at the two, and see one tall, slender boy with an incredible form, glaring down at a younger, small boy who seems weedy in comparison to him.

And they would also believe, that Kenma would be the first to break down just from comparison of appearances.

Well, it's the muscled, tall boy who flinches first, which would be disbelieving to many outsiders. "It's nothing important."

"It's more important than volleyball, apparently." Low-blow. Kenma knows. He just dissed Kuroo's handful of mistakes he performed today. "Tell me what's wrong." Kenma sighs.

"Yeah, tell us what's wrong!" Lev bounds over. Probably aware that the two friends want to discuss in private, Yaku sighs, trailing behind the ambitious, tall boy, before yanking on Lev's wrist. "But Ya-"

"C'mon!" Lev waves happily as he trails behind Yaku.

The other teammates, probably getting a sense that Kenma's about to either kick, kiss [not literally], or scold Kuroo's ass. Usually it's the third. The only time he does the latter option, the one where he compliments Kuroo, is only if Kenma's feeling particularly generous. Which is basically never. "So, you want to tell me?" Kenma rarely starts the conversation. And usually it's him, who wants to escape any sort of shenanigans that Kuroo stupidly drags him into.

Well, the positions has reversed now.

"Ha...okay...so...you know my dad?"

 _Oh. Daddy issues. Makes sense._

"What about him?" Kenma suddenly feels a strange sense of protectiveness over Kuroo. Like a cat.

"Apparently," Kuroo crouches down, his voice dropping in octaves and volume, he leans in closer. Normally, Kenma would punch Kuroo for even kneeling down to talk to him; made him semi-self-conscious about his height. But right now, he's too captivated by what he's going to say next. "He's now in America, and the coach of Karasuno."

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

* * *

 _"OH MY GOD, HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN?"_ Daichi practically screeches, and they cower at his screaming. Seriously. How is it even scientifically possible to do such a feat? Sugawara would've scolded the rest of his teammates, if he isn't struggling trying to extinguish the fire.

He screams. It's the first time in a long time he actually cracks under pressure. But he does. After all-his shirt has a hole sheared in it. Feeling as though Daichi screaming at the crying members of the rest of Karasuno won't get them to anywhere, Sugawara had screamed. Almost immediately, Daichi pivoted on his feet, staring at Sugawara with an intense gaze of shock, and the others automatically stiffens at his crunching screech.

Slowly, with a calm voice that contrasts his previous, startling squawk, he says, "How is this possible?" He musters the most menacing, sinister yet quietest voice possible. "How is it possible to set fire to water?"

Sugawara doesn't miss Nishinoya clearing his throat. By now, Sugawara's ready to pour the stale, once-on-fire, boiling water onto everyone one of those teammates, and crack the pan onto each one of their heads as well.

"You guys wrecked Kiyiko-san's kitchen. _You burned off the wallpaper._ " Daichi mutters in a collected tone, clearly struggling to remain composed in one way or another.

"There's this giant soot stain. We leave you alone for _five minutes. FIVE MINUTES._ How do you guys mess up doing instant ramen? _For fuck's sake-you hadn't even put in the ramen yet! You just messed up boiling the water._ BOILING THE WATER." Nope. Daichi lost equilibrium once more.

"Oh, wait," Nishinoya gasps. "Actually...for the giant soot stain," he points at the charred, wooden, counter top that's decorated with ashes and burn marks. "You can use warm water and a little bit of detergent!" He advises. "But don't use cold water-"

Sugawara wants to scream again.

He doesn't.

Instead, he grabs the blackened cutting board that's ruined as it had soaked in excess ashes.

And with all his might-he throws at Nishinoya's head.

"DAD, TELL MOM NOT TO HIT ME!" Shrieks erupt among the group.

Frowning, Sugawara turns to Daichi. "What's up with the parent labels?"

"I pity whoever's their mom and dad." His teammate responds.

And then, Kiyiko and Yachi enters the room. Instantly, Sugawara panics. _If she sees her kitchen like this-_

Sugawara, being smart, runs out of the room, to find Tsukishima in the living room. Of course he'd be smart enough to escape the commotion. A loud roar sounds from the television that occupies Tsukki's attention.

"Are you watching Jurassic Park?" Sugawara questions.

* * *

A fun bit at the end.

So basically, they were just hanging out at Kiyiko's house, and...

they can't boil water without their parent's and cool aunt's help.

-Another thing. In my previous chapters, _did I put in Tsukiyama from Tokyo Ghoul instead of Tsukishima?_ Oh please no.

Pls.

Plssss.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer I don't own Haikyuu

* * *

It's not like Kageyama's extremely salty.

No. No he isn't. He's not intensely bitter at Oikawa in general. There's _definitely_ no explanation to why he's been keeping count on when Oikawa will break, nor will there ever be any confirmation that he has [it took Oikawa thirteen hours and thirty-eight minutes for Oikawa to break].

Kageyama would've labeled Oikawa's behavior as childish, if he hadn't responded in such a way when he realized that he's trapped here. He winces as the same chair he broke just days ago, splinters once more from Oikawa's irrational reaction as he slams the furniture against the wallpapered-tin wall of the basement. "Tobio, please, stop your brother!" Sachiko shrieks, but Kageyama doesn't answer, as he watches Oikawa slam open the doors, and tugging at the windows that are bolted shut and lead to nowhere. "Please, Tobio-chan!"

 _What's up with the change of honorifics?_ Kageyama remains mute, figuring that honestly, Oikawa's rants are beginning to worsen his headache, and it'll take much physical energy to stop someone as energetic and motivated boy. He doesn't have the energy, and honestly, his sore and bruised body probably has little to no energy to exert onto stopping the panicking boy.

It finally seems as though Oikawa realizes that he's actually trapped here, after being forced to sleep in the same bedroom as Kageyama, as they're both 'brothers'. Apparently he's finally coming to the reality on how 'Iwa-chan' isn't here to save him, and that the thought of the police actually finding him is incredibly low. "Kageyama!" Blinking, and startled, Kageyama snaps his head up at the source of the voice. "Why aren't you helping me?" Oikawa addresses him rudely, while pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"Ah-it's because I don't like helping you." _It's because it's hopeless._

"Kageyama, don't tell me you've given up!" Oikawa stares at him, with...what is-

 _Disappointment. Pity._

His anger flaring at the names of the emotions Oikawa's expressing through his big brown eyes, Kageyama jackknifes up from the couch he was lying down on. "I didn't give up. I just realized to not exert any sort of work or energy onto redundant activities. Basically, what you're doing right now is completely hopeless. If I'm going to bother with something, it's going to be something that actually has a possibility of working." He recalls when he used to force Kindachi into going after the ball and use his energy on something absolutely hopeless.

Well, he supposes that not only did his character change, but so did his perspective of knowledge; he learned something over having the concept of these 'friends'.

"Well-we have...we have to try something!"

"Yeah but not wreck the place. Daniel won't respond nicely to it." Kageyama adds coldly. "And also, if you're ever going to try and attack him, try to use frying pans. Because of their large volume, it makes it easier for you to hit him." He says. He meant to only say that to shock Oikawa into submission, but he also means it. In this place, he'd certainly choose a frying pan over a knife.

Not gonna lie, earlier when he tried to help Sachiko cook [once again, it was incredibly awkward along with Oikawa just watching them incredulously at their relationship and with her watching him nervously whenever he fondly picks up the frying pan to hand it to her].

At this, Sachiko knots her lips, lowering her eyes. Kageyama isn't sure whether or not she's feeling guilty for indirectly leading Kageyama to Daniel's beating when she stopped him, or if she's feeling rather disgruntled at the thought of him hitting her husband over the head with a frying pan.

Kageyama supposes Daniel has a right to feel mad [well...it's not justified but]-

Getting hit in a head with a flat piece of metal should hurt.

But he cannot comprehend why Sachiko would feel such a way. Then again, her mind is manipulated and twisted into believing that she actually loves him. Disgusted at that thought, Kageyama purses his lips and turns his attention to Oikawa. _We can't plan here, Daniel definitely has some sort of camera or somethin' like that here-_ Of course, Kageyama doesn't say that out loud. But then again, he isn't sure how he'll communicate with Oikawa like this.

Before he can find an answer, a static-sounding noise causes him to pivot on his feet, as he was shocked by such a sudden noise. The old television box, [it's old enough to have antennas], has various shade of gray lines that show on the screen, forming shapes. "Oh. Yes. Sometimes, Daniel shows us a clip or footage from one of the video cameras upstairs. He's considerate in that way." Sachiko explains hurriedly, clearly trying to diffuse Oikawa's wrath-fueled anger before he can start again.

The television crackles for a second or two, before working properly. It's definitely a video. Kageyama can feel his anger and complete and utter horror start. The video is taken from an angle that suggests the camera's bolted near the ceiling or such, as he's able to see the people in it from the sky-view. Kageyama is certainly not close to this brunet who's silent beside him while brandishing a chair, and yet, he can clearly identify the two figures in the video. One is Daniel, who's standing from inside the doorframe of the house they're staying in, and the other is a female, who's standing on the doorsteps of the house.

It doesn't take Kageyama a second to figure out exactly who the female is.

Oikawa didn't even seemingly think, he figures, as he automatically shouts without even the film rolling. "Mom!" Oikawa gasps. "Is this thing present? Is this thing happening right now?" He turns to Sachiko.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure."

"In that case- _MOM!"_ Kageyama releases an undignified yelp, as the couch shifts underneath Oikawa's weight, causing Kageyma to stumble back, as the boy stands up on the pastel couch. "MOM!" Oikawa screeches, grabbing the chair he was still holding from his previous tantrum, and slams it against the roof. Kageyama flinches with each pound against the ceiling.

"Stop! The room is sound-proof!" Sachiko shrieks. "He'll know you're doing this, Daniel will just get mad! So stop, it won't help!" Sachiko pleads.

Kageyama, reignited with adrenaline, grabs the pink broom that's leaning against the wall that Sachiko placed earlier, as just minutes ago, she was desperately trying to clean up after Oikawa's rage-fueled fit. He slams the end of the broom handle against the ceiling as well.

"OIKAWA-SAMA!" Kageyama screams Oikawa's mother's name with honorifics. "OI, WE'RE DOWN HERE!" His eyes remain latched on the screen, where Daniel's conversing with Oikawa's mother. He can vaguely hear the words, and pausing his shouting and broom handle-pounding to try and crank up the box. [Oikawa's screaming is loud enough, anyways. Besides, screaming is making him feel rather light-headed, and his crushed ribs are being slammed against his flesh as he swallows in an abundant amount of air to scream are starting to hurt, along with the bruises that are tender as his neck stretches from his shouting].

He walks up to the old, brown box, and twists one of the knobs, which increases the volume.

 _"Ah, yeah, I had Oikawa-kun study with one of my visiting students from America. I didn't see him after that-oh, no, no worries! I sincerely hope you find him."_ He's able to hear Daniel clearly now.

A dejected and defeated mother leaves the doorsteps, and then, something makes Kageyama's entire body freeze, along with faltering Oikawa's screams as he realizes that his mother made absolutely no indication that she even felt a tremor from Oikawa's shouting or slamming a chair against the ceiling.

Daniel looks straight upwards, implying that he knows they're watching [well duh, Kageyama guesses it's not weird that he was the one who intentionally turned on the television in the first place], and his eyes latch onto the screen, indicating he's staring straight up at the video camera.

He smiles.

* * *

Oikawa's still screaming, and even crying [holy shit he's an ugly crier], even as Daniel enters the room, shutting the door behind him. Oikawa even tried to escape past him, but Kageyama knows that there's another door up there, which also requires a code. He's tried escaping this way as well, and it wouldn't work. "Look, Tooru-san," he turns to Oikawa, whose crying and snotting stifles at the sound of his name. Right. This is the first time that Oikawa's hearing Daniel using his name. [Kageyama recalls the image of Oikawa practically fainting as Sachiko addresses him by his first name earlier. That or the realization that Sachiko, a girl who looks younger than the age of twenty, is Daniel's 'wife'].

"If you continued shouting," Daniel begins calmly, his eyes behind his spectacles revealing nothing. Kageyama hates the cold sensation that washes over him. He knows that feeling. He always ends up with that feeling whenever it's the time before a volleyball match. Fear. Fear of losing. However, at least at the court, he's reveled with excitement.

Here, there's anticipation as well. But that anticipation is the type that makes him think: _what's he going to do next? What happens if he hits Oikawa? This isn't good what if he hurts us? What's-_

His mind is flooded with worries.

But he focuses on what's unraveling in front of him, instead.

"Such as-" Kageyama recoils as Daniel pounds a fist against the tin wall, which creates a loud sound, ergo shocking and somewhat scaring Kageyama, Daniel begins to scream, "MOM, MOM, MOM!" He mimics Oikawa's words he screeched, all the while slamming his fist against the door. "And if she heard you," his uncanny tranquility returning as a neutral facades returns upon his face, his voice returning to its normal volume. "Then I would have to kill her."

Kageyama's blood doesn't boil. Instead it freezes within his veins, and his anger doesn't expand either. Rather, it's as if the chill that came with his words had frosted over his emotions in general.

Even Oikawa falls silent, dumbfounded.

"So!" Sachiko's entirely happy voice sounds through the room, as if the entire basement is _not_ covered in shattered fragments of ceramics and wood, Kageyama is _not_ a stone statue right now, and Oikawa does _not_ look ugly for the first time Kageyama's ever seen him, with his scarlet-rimmed eyes and puffy waterline, along with the blush that dusts his cheeks and nose. "I've prepared dinner!" She clasps her slender hands together. "Come, let us eat, family!"

 _Good luck getting Oikawa to eat._ Certainly Kageyama's more oblivious and dense than Oikawa in...well, in everything, and he's just as hard-headed...but dare he say, he's wiser. He may be proud, but he will justify backing down with the thought of getting revenge later.

Oikawa, on the other hand, may refuse to sit down on the table, even if it gets physical. Kageyama might back down to prevent bodily harm as he's not _stupid_ [well, for the first time in his life, he's not], but Oikawa won't.

* * *

No.

Actually, no.

Weird things are happening.

-Oikawa actually listened and sat down to eat dinner with them without hesitation [he suspects it's out of pity for Sachiko's look of desperation and pleading in her eyes]

-Kageyama's feeling fear for the first time, at least, fear that's sincere and with a good reason;

-He's trapped in a basement

-He's living with a mental psychopath who believes that he's his dad

-Along with a brainwashed 'mom' who's broken and snapped into the belief that she belongs here.

Kageyama has to say:

Today's particularly interesting.

* * *

"He sleeps there?" Oikawa concludes, and Kageyama nods in confirmation. They're in Kageyama's room, as apparently, there are only three different personal rooms in this actual household: the bedroom of Sachiko and Daniel, the bathroom, and Kageyama's bedroom. Daniel apologized sincerely for not preparing a room for Oikawa in advance, as he didn't think he was going to adopt another son so soon.

Oikawa remained stony-faced at Daniel's apology. Kageyama actually believes that Daniel's sincerely sorry; after all, he also thinks that Daniel loves them. Kageyama knows that he loves them-but it's passed the borderline of obsession. And just because he knows that Daniel loves them to the point where he sees them as artifacts to keep for only himself like the psycho he is; that doesn't mean Kageyama necessarily loves him back.

How could he love him back, anyways?

"Let's slit his throat."

"Did you not hear him say that if he dies down here, we'll end up starving to death down here as well?" Kageyama questions blandly. "And even if the cops do decide to come check Daniel's household out once they realize he's not paying his bills or whatever because we killed him, that doesn't mean they'll find this room? It's soundproof and everything. And it'll take like a month or so for them to even consider searching this house thoroughly, and we'd be dead by then." Kageyama thinks things through more often than not.

His mind is undeniably wise and thorough-

despite his lack of knowledge whenever it comes to actual subjects.

"Well...maybe he has a cellular device on him. Take him out and call the police."

"And if not? We can't even consider the option of taking the cellphone from him without consequences. Even if we poison him, starve him, or whatever, he's crazy. He won't let us go even if we trade his life for the pass code to get out of here." He begins. "We'll end up with a beating." Kageyama murmurs. "And even if he had a cellphone, there's a good chance he doesn't bring his phone down here. He's not stupid. If he can keep all these people down here-" He remembers the story of Yuki. "And not get caught, he wouldn't do something like that like an amateur." He explains. "Another thing. It's better not to try without confirmation. if we fail..." _Daniel may resort to death for safety._

Silence.

For the past five minutes, Kageyama has been lying on his bed, staring at the blue ceiling. Slowly, he shifts his eyes to the side, to find Oikawa frowning at him, sitting cross-legged on his sheets. "They'll...they'll find us." Oikawa doesn't sound so sure.

Kageyama's horrified to find tears within his eyes. He so wants to believe that they'll get out. The prospect of remaining here for eternity scares him greatly. He'll eventually go crazy himself. But he knows he's too cowardly to consider suicide to end the pain.

For once, Kageyama isn't concerned on his image in front of Oikawa, even as tears begin to leak from the gravitational pull, and slide out the corner of his eyes and down his cheekbones.

"We're trapped."

"We have many friends. They'll look for us."

 _Friends._

Kageyama's heart tugs with longing. "Yeah. We do have friends." He agrees. "And they'll definitely look for us." He's pleased by how confident he sounds in the prospect his friends will look for him. He's sure of the fact that his friends will look for him. And that floods him with an intense emotion of heat and happiness, that can't be dampen by his next statement. "But the thing is, will they _find_ us?"

Once again, silence answers his ominous question.

"How'd you get the bruises?" Kageyama blinks at the sudden change of subject, along with the lower sound of pitch in Oikawa's voice. "There's a bandage around your head. And around your arm and you always wince whenever you move. Did Daniel do that to you?" The first inkling of panic that Kageyama witnessed earlier enters Oikawa's voice. _"Did he-"_

"No. No. It's not what you think. Nothing...nothing inappropriate if you don't talk about child abuse." Kageyama answers quietly. "But yeah. He did break my arm." Bile rises in Kageyama's throat, as the vision of blood speckling his face as it spurts out of the wound in his arm, the jagged edge jutting out of his flesh-

He's hyperventilating. He sits upright, shocking Oikawa, as he uses his good hand to grab the pillow beside him. It's as if any sort of rivalry, as if any sort of awkwardness between them has dissipated. After all, they're now both in the same situation. Neither of them called out on either one of them crying, and while Oikawa had the decency to try and hide his weak and scared side, Kageyama didn't. He doesn't care how Oikawa sees him anymore.

"Daniel's dangerous, because unlike other people, who only want other people for pleasure or for personal reasons, he actually loves us. Because he loves us, he won't ever let us go." Kageyama wheezes. "Love is a rather dangerous thing." _And just a couple months ago, I'd scoff at such a thought._

Oikawa's bottom lip trembles. He knows that Oikawa wants to cry, but unlike Kageyama, he has yet to experience the actual horror. So, he still has hope in his friends and that's all that's keeping him from crying. Next to his pride.

But this is somewhat dangerous. Oikawa doesn't understand that this is a predicament where there's no simple way to get out.

There has to be a special moment, special time and special situation along with extreme and incredible luck.

And who knows when that opportunity of escape will show, or if it'll even happen.

* * *

"You trust him?" Kuroo nods his head vigorously at Kenma's questioning tone.

"Kuroo. He's chewing a shoe."

"So?"

"Kuroo. He's looking our way."

"So?"

"He...he's glaring at us. I don't think he likes us."

"He looks trustworthy."

"He looks like a drug-dealer is what."

"Don't be so judgmental from his appearance!"

"He's running."

"Wait, wha-"

"He's running because we've been staring at him creepily for the past half hour."

"But-"

"Oh, he's gone. Wait. No. He just flipped us off. Can we just go to the game store normally without having to stalk anyone who crosses our way and looks interesting?"

Kenma knows he's here, dragging Kuroo and even agreeing to going _outside_ , just to entertain Kuroo and keep his mind off the fact that his dickwad of a father is here and staying nearby. "Let's go to the game store and buy the game we were planning to play together one day." Kenma murmurs. He cranes his neck upwards, and finds himself admiring Kuroo's jawline.

Kenma doesn't necessarily find it weird that he thinks Kuroo's attractive. He hears many girls mentioning it. It's not embarrassing [of course, it would be if he admitted it aloud], and he finds it okay as long as he's not attracted to Kuroo in general. Okay. So that's a seriously odd thought. He flinches.

"Yeah...yeah..."

"Stop staring at that lady. Let her go to the bar in peace. Oh...she's noticing how you're staring at her."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"Yes there is. She's reaching into her purse. The possibility that she has pepper spray is actually not that low. Now, let's go."

* * *

Not at the park.

Not at home.

Not anywhere.

Iwaizumi will kill Oikawa after this.

Set him on fire.

Feed him to the dogs.

His anger rivals his worry. But...deep down, he's aware that his concern for Oikawa is considerably larger than his wrath.

After all, Oikawa may be an idiot, but that doesn't mean he's illogical. It just means he's unbelievably stupid, that's all.

But he's rational [usually]. And Oikawa would definitely not leave randomly without even leaving a message or text for Iwaizumi. Or his mother. Iwaizumi isn't sure why, but despite Oikawa's infinite taunts and claims of hatred, he still puts Iwaizumi as one of his most important people. And for some reason, Iwaizumi finds himself proud of that. Is he exactly sure why-

No.

But he finds it rather pleasurable, even though he's unsure of why. But there's one person that has a higher status in Oikawa's mind than Iwaizumi. His mother. Oikawa loves his mother dearly, and is clearly grateful of her for raising him without any help from another person. Oikawa doesn't have respect for his mother just because they're blood-related, but because he finds her worthy of it.

He holds his mother in his highest regard and consent of concern and every other emotion; if there's one person that Oikawa would do anything for, it's his mother. And he wouldn't just not text his mother or leave her with a peace of mind without doing anything stupid.

So, yes. Iwaizumi's concerned for this inconsiderate idiot because this proves that Oikawa's actually in some sort of trouble that's greater than his doing.

A sudden vibration in his pocket pauses his running, and he stops. He was just leaving the park, where Oikawa generally goes to whenever he's shrouded by negative emotion. Iwaizumi had came here again, in hopes of seeing Oikawa here, regardless that he wasn't seen here yesterday. Yeah. It was stupid of him to do so.

He takes out his phone, which was the thing that caused the buzzing sensation, and realizes it's from the groupchat of team-leaders.

 _Suga:_ 'we still haven't found Kages. We also have this new coach who's actually really nice.'

Sugawara isn't necessarily a team captain, but considering how he's basically a third-year as well and about to leave, they allowed him in. They invited other third-years into their chat, as well. Of course, only between their volleyball teams. Sure they're rivals, but they enjoy just chatting with one another in general.

 _"Guys."_ Iwaizumi furiously creates his own text. _"Oikawa disappeared within yesterday as well."_

He could've sugarcoated it, he supposes, as he's automatically spammed with texts.

 _Kuroo:_ 'woa BRO WAT? TAT ASSHOLE IS GON? SINCE WHEN'

 _Kenma:_ 'Kuroo. He just said around yesterday.'

 _Brokuto: '_ AWHAT XCUSE ME Y IS HE GONE? R U SAYING THAT hE's GONE NOW? LIKE BLUEBERRY-SAN?'

 _Who the hell is Blueberry-san?_ Iwaizumi shakes his head slightly at the phone screen. Iwaizumi quickly responds with a text. _'Yeah, he dsiappaered'_ he doesn't have time for auto-correct or even consider typing correctly at the speed his fingers are flying at the moment. _'and we can't find him it's been almost a day.'_

 _Akaashi:_ 'Wait, did you check everywhere?'

For a very smart and wise setter;

That's an incredibly stupid question.

 _Daichi:_ 'I don't want to sound inconsiderate, but shouldn't you all be in class'.

 _Kuroo:_ 'Wait. Today's a school day?'

 _Kenma:_ 'Kuroo you practically called for us to skip class today'.

 _Ennoshita:_ 'In the br rn btchs'

 _Kenma:_ 'can we focus on the fact that there are two boys missing right now?'

 _Daichi:_ 'yeh this is actually really serious'.

 _Brokuto:_ 'yeh guyds, this rlly isnt good do u thnk more people wil be taken? we should tell the police.'

 _Suga:_ 'we can't report a missing person if Oikawa just disappeared yesterday, as it implies that twenty-four hours hasn't passed yet.'

 _Brokuto:_ 'who cres if 24 hours passed? wtf?'

Iwaizumi knows that they're all worried. He knows that if needed, they'll get incredibly serious, and he knows that Bokuto's not trying to be inconsiderate. He knows that joking [if acting dumb is joking. He's pretty sure it's not even 'acting'] is just him trying to lighten the atmosphere and tension.

But honestly, this just makes Iwaizumi want to throw his phone on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Looking up, he winces, realizing that he's probably staring intensely at his phone. "Ah..." he looks upwards. A man with a concerned expression stares at him through lenses.

"Oh, no, I'm okay." He smiles sheepishly, as he runs off.

* * *

 _Iwaizumi Hajime_.

Daniel makes a mental note.

He studied Oikawa's life for a minute. Of course he'd recognize that boy who was glaring at his phone screen.

Smirking slightly, he continues his way peacefully and cheerfully.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer I don't own Haikyuu

* * *

Iwaizumi flinches.

 _He did not._

He flinches as he opens up the group chat.

 _He actually did._

Brokuto: _hoot hoot mtherfcker. Guess what? I got more than a 50% onn myu lst testt!111!_

Iwaizumi can appreciate them. They're clearly trying to cheer Iwaizumi up. Even Sugawara, who's place in a stiff position of his own setter disappearing as well, he still continues to send supporting messages through the group chat.

However, Iwaizumi still wants to follow his first instinct of throwing his phone into the ocean.

* * *

Oikawa eyes Kageyama, who's staring at the ceiling. Inner conflict. Used to analyzing people with his perceptiveness, he mentally notes everything. Kageyama's definitely afraid, and most likely aware of it. He's lost and confused. The old-Oikawa would've laughed at Kageyama's inner turmoil, if he didn't experience it himself. Granted, Kageyama was the one who caused the insecurity of him in the first place-

But still. Oikawa feels somewhat sympathetic towards the younger boy.

Iwaizumi would be proud of him.

Iwaizumi.

 _How's he doing? Is he worried about me? Is he looking for me right now? What is he doing, how's the rest of my team_ -

"Hey, Oikawa?" Blinking, Oikawa quickly yanks himself out of his thoughts, and turns to the source of the voice. Oikawa himself, is seated on the desk across the room, with both of his feet tipping the chair in front of him. "Do you seriously think we'll get out?"

His mouth becomes dry. "I don't know." He genuinely answers. "But Tobio-chan!" He warbles, and takes satisfaction in Kageyama, who shifts his head slightly to regard him, with a withering expression crossing his face. "Don't lose hope! Because hope is all we have left!" _We definitely ran out of luck a long time ago._

* * *

Kageyama is like a cracked window. A hole is already punched into the glass panel, but there are still fragments of glass still clinging onto the jagged edges of the inner window. Those glass shards represents hope. The hole and cracks are to correspond with the feeling of doubt and fear. And slowly, Oikawa can tell, those cracks will only get larger.

He believes that mental window he create, is finally cleared of everything, now just a big gaping hole, right now.

Screaming, Oikawa can't help himself from screeching himself hoarse as the body withers onto the floor, having something such as a seizure. _"She had lies in her heart."_ Daniel shouts.

Oikawa begins to hyperventilate, stumbling backwards. Oh God. The blood. The metallic scent is invading his sense of smell, and it's so thick he might as well taste it. Staggering back as Sachiko raises a jerking hand towards him, he screams, toppling forward, and onto the palms of his hands. He can feel the carpet beneath him squish from the pressure of his hands, as it's sopping wet from the crimson fluid.

"She lied, and lied, and lied!" Daniel snarls, brandishing the kitchen knife with such intensity, and that's when Oikawa understands Kageyama's fear. _Kageyama, where is he-_ Oikawa panics, and quickly, disregarding his bobbing and fuzzy vision, swivels his head around, to find Kageyama, standing behind Daniel. Oikawa, as there are now black dots splotched across his vision, focuses instead on Sachiko, splattered in blood, as he forces himself to try and maintain a calm breathing-pace before he faints from the lack of oxygen.

"I did this for you." Daniel continues.

Oikawa wishes he collapsed, as he realizes, that in this position, he's able to stare into the glassy, darkened eyes of the corpse, bulging out of their sockets from the shock she experienced before dying. "Sachi?" he murmurs, the words clipped as they leave his lips.

"Do you understand?" He hears footsteps, and figures that Daniel's approaching them. Oikawa quickly gets onto his knees, wanting to put more distance between him and Daniel. However, he cranes his neck upwards, staring at the taller man. His eyes focus on the crusted blood speckled across his lenses. Oikawa tastes the sour, bitter flavor of bile.

"How did you know?" A familiar voice weaves in from the distance, but as the blood's rushing through Oikawa's ears, the voice sounds distant and muffled. "How did you know she was lying?"

"I'm the head of this household. I have to know everything." Daniel responds. "Now, I suggest that you two go into your room, and turn the music up- _very loud_. And do not come out until I say so."

Oikawa, through his heavy gasps, coughs, choking, before wheezing with a raspy voice: "What are you planning to do with her?" He questions, wanting nothing more but to prevent Daniel from even _touching_ Sachiko-disregarding whether she's alive or not.

"How do I put this? I happen to donate organs and blood to charities." _Well then._ "And the meat...well, I take the job of dismembering the meat. And we have a nearby butcher."

Oikawa doesn't even know he's trembling until he can't even stand to look at Daniel anymore, and had averted his eyes to his fisted hands. That's when he notices his quivering fingers as they close around the fabric of his bloodstained pajamas. "Now, like I said, both of you-go to your rooms."

* * *

"He killed Sachiko." Oikawa whispers, his voice only heard because he's sitting right next to Kageyama. If he wasn't, the loud, blaring classical music would've drowned his voice. At that, he chuckles. Just yesterday, he complained about the music selection, wondering why Daniel doesn't allow pop music. And right now, he has to say, the intense warble of the violins, which resembles something from 'Scream', is quite fitting, as Oikawa knows that in this house, somewhere, Sachiko's limbs are being dismembered.

He stares at the trashcan which is placed next to the bed they're both sitting in, wondering if he would have to use it again. There's already crusted bile from earlier when he regurgitated. He shivers. He's more scared for Kageyama, however. Kageyama didn't even seem surprised when Daniel grabbed the nape of Sachiko, and with a fluid movement, left her with a gaping throat with a flick of his wrist and knife. "Why did he even kill her?" Oikawa asks. His vision's blurry, as he had removed his contact lenses as they continued to irritate his eyes when he was rubbing them and crying constantly. He's also sure that on those lenses, blood's dried on it.

"She was jealous. You noticed it too, right?"

Oikawa, through his hazy memories that are refusing to cooperate from his shock, was able to recall the feeling of Sachiko glaring at them darkly, especially whenever Daniel hugged them, or pet them on the head, or kissed them on their scalp as well. Yes. He remembers observing Sachiko, and realizing that she was jealous of Daniel's show of affections. "Earlier, she told me that she saw through our 'plan', that we were just playing 'hard-to-get'. Her mind's twisted, she's intensely dependent and jealous of us, because she actually legitimately loves Daniel. She's afraid that she'll be left alone. She's probably already alone all these years from the lack of socialization. She wanted Daniel to herself. That's why she lied. After all, that's why Daniel woke us up in the middle of the night."

Right. Daniel had banged on their door, shouting- _screaming_ at them to get up. And they did. Daniel then confronted them, claiming that Sachiko told him that they held no love for Daniel [not false], and that they're planning to escape again. And she had that smug countenance. At that time, Oikawa wanted to strangle her. Right now, he wants nothing more than to get her back.

And Daniel then slit her throat. Without even confronting her about her lie. Just her cut her throat right there.

He shudders. He then quickly storms over to the closet, filled with new clothes Daniel bought. Stripping off his shirt, he wants to get off the smell.

Sachiko's blood. It stains his pants and blemishes his shirt. Wheezing now, he rips off his stained clothes, and with shaky hands, he shoves the pajamas aside, before grabbing another pair of bed clothes. He quickly wrangles them on, but then he hesitates. He can still smell it. The overpowering and disgusting scent of blood. His stomach churns. He runs out of the room, and towards the small bathroom. He needs to take a shower.

He has to. Peeling off his clothes again, he quickly screws the knob, and water spurts out of the shower head. He doesn't care. Daniel can hurt him for not obeying his advice, and straying to take a shower. It's just at the moment, he wants nothing to do with Sachiko. He wants to quickly cut off all ties. Leaping into the scalding water, he scrubs at himself until his skin turns raw, becoming a faded shade of pink. He chips away at the blood that crusted on and underneath his nails, and spurts mounds of shampoo onto him and his body, trying to rid of the scent.

* * *

Kageyama is still sitting on the bed, unmoved of his position from the last time Oikawa saw him. Beads of water still dripping off his hair, Oikawa crinkles his nose as he tries to shake the excess water off. While he smells like lemons, the room...still has that faint stench of blood. He cringes. "You're not going to shower?" Oikawa really wants Kageyama to. He wants to get rid of the smell. Kageyama, who was not in the way of the blood, is spotless and probably spared of the small of blood. However, Oikawa still wants him to. He feels as though this entire room is tainted from them just standing in here.

Kageyama shakes his head.

Trauma.

Kageyama broke. Lifeless. Just sitting there. Oikawa then realizes, he was the only one who screamed. Kageyama, sure, was startled by Daniel's sudden action along with the event of dragging them out of their bedroom, was still emotionless throughout the murder. He just stared, gazed with little to no emotion expressed on his face, as Sachiko gasps, shriveling and thrashing about on the floor.

If anything, Oikawa's scared for Kageyama. He can't work with a person who's given up.

And finally, Oikawa did something that he would've hit himself for doing back then.

He willingly cries in front of Kageyama, who lost the motivation and hope.

* * *

What chance did he have anyways? Kageyama, unbeknownst to his own consciousness, is now laughing out loud. How foolish. How stupid. How utterly incompetent of him to believe that he was safe here. This is like a wooden box that he's trapped in, with spikes protruding inwards. If he steps outside of his boundaries and shove against them, he'll get stabbed.

 _"Kageyama?"_ He's not that far gone. He's able to know when someone's shouting for him. Swiveling his head around, he's unable to prevent a toothed, large smile from cracking across his blank canvas of emotions. "Kageyama?" Oikawa's tear-streaked face stares at him, with a recognizable emotion behind it. Kageyama experienced it a lot within these past couple days-fright.

However, he's no longer frightened. Because for all he cares;

Daniel can kill him.

* * *

And Oikawa thought Kageyama's smile was scary in general. His laughter's worse. Along with the crazed, dull tone that has settled in his eyes, it gives the distinct impression of insanity. And he's laughing.

For fuck's sake. He lost Kageyama.

* * *

For a complete and utter doofus, Kageyama could bake. And perhaps it was him being stupidly sentimental, but here he is, dicing the strawberries. When Tsukishima's birthday happened just a couple months ago, Kageyama easily whipped up a strawberry pie. It was extremely awkward.

Tsukishima was unable to thank Kageyama, nor was he able to express his gratitude without sputtering; and he also didn't know how to react to Kageyama's sudden try on this 'friendship' thing.

And Kageyama, was extremely dense and couldn't find why Tsukishima might be flustered by him, the one kid he normally picks on, made things worse.

Yeah. It was bad. However, things went back to normal after they split the pie [it was admittedly good], and allowed Sugawara pay for all of them as a treat when they ate at a special restaurant.

And so now, Hinata, who recalls Kageyama stating that baking comes fairly easy to him, was baking the same strawberry pie. Tsukishima had the recipe for it after requesting for it, as he did find the pie delicious [but refused to admit nor compliment Kageyama on that]. "Do you think we can add whipped cream?" Nishinoya yelps cheerfully, his eyes glistening at the prospect of sugar.

Gasping, Hinata nods furiously. Sure, he's completely down, but so is everyone. The fact that Kageyma's return in chance is low, is like a suffocating prospect. But, here they are, trying the best to do things. None of them wants to get over him. Rather, they want to cling onto him as long as possible. Hinata isn't sure if this is a thing he necessarily wants to recover from; but given the deal that Kageyama's return is limited, that might be the best option.

His stomach twists at that.

"No, no more sugar!" Sugawara hisses. "The glaze is sweet enough. Too much sugar isn't good!" The boy wrings his hand, chiding them. Scorning them like a parent-figure.

"Ah-" Hinata yelps as Asahi drops the bag of flour, and it billows upwards. Coughing, Hinata tries to brush away the flour that settled on him, while choking through laughs, a reassuring statement to an apologizing Asahi.

Kiyiko, who finally allowed them back in their kitchen after a true apology from Sugawara, who happens to be on good terms with her always [it's hard to dislike Sugawara, anyways], is clicking her tongue, staring at Kageyama's impeccable, slanted handwriting. "So much butter for just the crust."

"It's ah pi(ah), suppos'd to have mush budder."

"Noya don't talk with your mouth full." Diachi sighs with no bark, and lacking any sort of intensity. Rather, he sounds a man who's tired out. Then again, Hinata supposes that one day Diachi has to relax; after all, he's practically an unpaid babysitter for all of them other than Sugawara, who even he refuses to cross. "And don't eat the strawberries."

The small libero grins, revealing his teeth stained slightly red from the berries. His cheeks are rounded, indicating the berries are shoved far back in his mouth. Scowling, Tsukishima, who is surprisingly cooperative at the activity of any sort of foods involving strawberries, raises the rubber spatula he was using earlier to create the glaze. He seems ready to whack Nishinoya in the head with the said spatula. "Sorry." He sputters, and Hinata cringes as he painfully swallows the mound of berries stashed in his mouth.

"You know," Yamaguchi, the shy boy begins. "I think whipped cream would actually be pretty good. And besides, we always play sports so we'd work off all the sugar." He suggests.

Sighing, Daichi rolls his eyes, as he turns to Sugawara, acknowledging him with a nod. Fascinated, Hinata watches as Sugawara and Daichi communicate through raises of eyebrows and various emotions. How strange. It's as if they have their own language, which only they can converse through as Hinata doesn't fathom. And then, all of a sudden, Daichi and Sugawara's glaring intensifies, and their slight shakes or soft nods become more like jerks. Finally, Daichi glowers at the crust he was molding onto the pan, and Sugawara turns to them, with a surprisingly victorious countenance.

"Whipped cream it is!" The male chirrups, and Hinata, acting on his joy of emotions, leaps up, laughing as the flour that was still clinging onto him, flies everywhere. Nishinoya whoops loudly.

Something's definitely missing here. _Someone's_ definitely missing here.

Most definitely.

But at the least; Hinata knows they can go through this together, and hope together.

* * *

Scoffing, Iwaizumi shakes his head, his mouth dry. He struggles to keep an impassive expression on his face. "But you had a girlfriend?" Kyoutani gapes, staring. Now, that delinquent barely has anything to say, so for him to voice it out, Iwaizumi supposes that the idea of him getting someone special is basically impossible in their eyes. How nice. "No. I didn't have a girlfriend, I had an Oikawa," the laughing silences at Iwaizumi's claim. "And now can I have my phone back?"

And for once, Hanamaki relents, obliging without argument. Iwaizumi snags his mobile back, and stares at the picture that Hanamki had found. It's a picture of them when they were around the age of thirteen; he and Oikawa. The brunet was flashing a peace sign, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth and his head nuzzled against Iwaizumi, who had the expression of shock and slight anger as he was unexpectedly caught in Oikawa's sudden selfie on his own phone. Iwaizumi doesn't know why he kept that stupid photo that Oikawa took without Iwaizumi's consent.

But on this photo, there, smudged on the collar of his shirt, is a lipstick stain. "Yeah. When we were younger, Oikawa was insanely jealous that someone was going to become my new bestfriend, so he was stupid enough to take his mother's lipstick and smear it against all my shirts, saying it's to 'claim me'." He winces, recalling that time. "It was horrifying." He whispers. "The stains wouldn't get out."

Laughter reoccurs, and he's unsure if it's out of relief that he didn't respond badly to the upcoming of Oikawa's presence, or just out of humor. Oikawa may be gone, but if anything, Iwaizumi suspects that Oikawa is wherever Kageyama is. His heart then tweaks at a sudden thought, chopping against his chest. The idea that they're now in a trafficking system is incredibly possible. Oikawa is admittedly good-looking [not that Iwaizumi would ever confess aloud; no need to add more fuel to his ego], and Kageyama, disregarding his arrogance, is incredibly innocent and pleasing to the eye as well.

 _No, no, don't think to that._ Noticing how his teammates are staring, he slowly peers down. His knuckles had flushed red from his tight clench on his phone, which he had done unconsciously. "Now, before I dismember all of you for taking my phone, _get to class!"_

As they run out of the room, he suddenly wonders with a shock;

 _How did they get into my phone in the first place?_ The only person who would know his password is Oikawa, who always happens to find a way to figure out his passcode despite the numerous amount of times Iwaizumi changes it.

That bastard.

Sharing his password with everyone.

* * *

Kuroo snickers, noting the panicked expression that crossed Kenma's pale visage. The tall man is clutching Kenma, whose feet are flailing beneath him as Lev holds him in such a fashion one would carry a cat; by their armpits. Hissing and clawing, Kenma is desperately trying to escape Lev's unexpected hug. Kuroo snorts, noting how Yaku is shaking his head to the side.

Somehow, Kuroo finds himself safe. He's older. Sure, there's always that small, little darkened area in the back of his mind that his father contaminated with awful memories; but for some reason, Kuroo believes that his father won't do anything. He's just here for a job.

That's all, and nothing else. At that, Kuroo's able to trick himself into believing everything's normal. His lips knot in distaste. Well, normalcy is the tricky word here. After all, Kenma often informs him on Hinata's lack of adrenaline he usually would have, along with his darkened of mood and depressed aura that practically oozes out of the once-bright, little ball of sunshine. And Oikawa. Iwaizumi had also told them about Oikawa's disappearance yesterday, over the chat. While Kuroo isn't as close to Iwaizumi as he was with Oikawa, he's well aware of Iwaizumi's presence and leverage/balance of Oikawa's life. And besides, he's actually rather close as a friendly relationship with Oikawa himself.

But he's sure that they'll be found before the month ends.

After all, that always happens in movies, and sometimes in real life.

He ignores the statistical, logical part of his brain which whispers:

 _'Yeah, but what about the chances of them not being found? This is real life~'_ He shivers, shuddering at how the voice sounds eerily like a darker version of himself because of its low-octave voice.

* * *

Kageyama obliges to every command Daniel says, Oikawa notes, as they eat breakfast. Now that Sachiko's... _gone_ , [Oikawa is unsure of why he seems so reluctant to just say that she's dead], Kageyama has taken over the role of making breakfast [does making count, when he's just really setting up bowls and spoons for their cereal?]. He just nods politely as Daniel compliments him, as if he _did not_ just kill his wife, that _he did not_ just choose his obsession over the said wife, and that _he did not_ dismember a woman upstairs in this household. Oikawa cannot find himself to meet Daniel's eyes. He cannot focus on those dark, glittering black eyes of the man.

His spoon clacks against the inside of the porcelain bowl as his hand shakes slightly. Not wanting Daniel to see that, he quickly swallows his cereal, acting as if he wasn't traumatized. "Well, I'm off to work!" Daniel then says, and Oikawa nods, continuing to eat his cereal. "Don't I get a goodbye?"

Oikawa stops, and sets the spoon down. He doesn't miss the threatening tone underneath Daniel's voice. "Good...bye..." Oikawa meekly says, hating the crack in his voice. He does look up in acknowledgement, but he stares at Daniel's hat rather than his actual irises.

"Goodbye." Kageyama states emotionlessly.

"Goodbye, my children! I forgot to tell you this, but I bought math books yesterday. They're on the kitchen table. If you want to, you can do some of the problems."

Oikawa waits until that fucker leaves, before he pivots on his feet, to face Kageyama.

He looks like shit.

The bandages are still wrapped around his head, [fresh ones, as Oikawa forced Kageyama to cooperate as he cleaned up the wounds; he didn't want Kageyama to die from something as lame as an infection], along with carefully disinfecting his lacerations yesterday night. But his eyes, once a vivid, intense color of sapphire, now nothing less than the blue-gray color of a dull sky before a stormy weather approaches.

"Are you okay?"

Kageyama nods.

"Don't lie."

"No. No I'm okay. It's nice. When you stop caring, everything's nice." Kageyama states, lackluster. Oikawa puckers his lips, watching in disgust as Kageyama removes the dishes and places them in the sink. He hates how weak Kageyama is. He hates how Kageyama just reverts into a shell of his former being. But he can't bring himself to hate Kageyama himself; he can't do it. He pities him. He's still young. In fact, Oikawa's sure that he's the youngest out of the entire Karasuno team; of course after this experience he'd be broken. Nothing more than a shattered porcelain doll.

Plastic.

And while Oikawa's sure that Daniel would hit them for acting as if they don't love him, he's sure that Daniel loves Kageyama's emotionless, broken state, despite it meaning that he won't receive any sort of affection. After all, Daniel probably takes satisfaction in breaking a stubborn, hard-headed boy such as Kageyama.

"Tobio-kun," Oikawa uses his favorite honorific for this boy. "You can't give up so easily."

"And you can't blind yourself from the obvious. We're not escaping, Tooru." Taken back by Kageyama's use of his name, Oikawa's pity melts away, replaced with anger.

"You're a coward."

"I came to terms with that." Shocked, his anger dissipates, as he loses momentum. He didn't expect for Kageyama to respond so flatly and easily. His pride is definitely crushed along with the rest of his capability to comprehend and feel emotions. "I want to die, but I'm too afraid to do it. I want to escape, but I'm too afraid of the consequences of failing."

Oikawa, for once in a long, long time, is unable to retort smartly with his lashing tongue. Instead, his words and thoughts are quickly jumbled together, into a muddled mess, submerged in the murky waters of confusion. And somewhere, somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice that sounds oddly like Iwaizumi, a whisper hisses, _'Idiot. You need to protect this boy; he's innocent and young.'_

And then, another voice [which sadly resembles Oikawa's], states, _'He's given up. You've seen people like this, Oikawa. He's one of those people who can't return. He's gone. Just let him be; you can't do anything anyways'._

Right. He was always worthless. Useless. What can he do? Oikawa is conscious of how much he depends on Iwaizumi to prevent himself from breaking. And right now, he's beginning to believe that all that Iwaizumi said, claiming that he's not worthless and completely needed, is bullshit.

 _No. No, you're just letting your lack of self-esteem_ _get to you. Oikawa Tooru; you're the only sane person left here, you have to get out of here. With or without Tobio-kun's help; but you have to get him out too._

Soon.

Because while Kageyama's distant; gone, Oikawa knows that while he's still in the shallow stage of vanishing, leaving behind only a former shell of himself, the possibility that Kageyama might return is probably hopeless. But the idea that he might be pieced together, into a cracked, broken doll, is still there. He won't ever be the same, but at least he'll be better.

In a way;

Oikawa has an inkling of suspicion that Kageyama needs Shrimpy,

Almost as much as Oikawa needs his Iwa-chan.

* * *

 _Sugawara:_ _image sent_

 _Kuroo:_ whoaa is dat pie? cherry?

 _Diachi:_ strawberries.

 _brokuto:_ oMG I WANT SUM

 _Ace W/ A Pretty Face:_ guys help me. Bokuto changed my account user and I don't know how to change it back.

 _Brokuto:_ No, but Akaashi!1! its gret dont change it!

 _Kuroo:_ such an old man, Akasi no knowledge oin technologi todaye.

 _Kenma:_ how is it possible that you spelled 'knowledge' right but not 'on'?

 _Iwaizumi:_ how is it possible you guys are texting during school? Now stop. Your notifications are interrupting my class.

 _Sugawara:_ Silence the notifications?

 _Iwaizumi:_ but what if someone important texts?

Even an utterly simple-minded fool such as Bokuto [probably] can tell what Iwaizumi meant.

He's still gripping onto the foolish hope that Oikawa may text back.

* * *

Not gonna lie, but I feel as though Kageyama would be a good baker, because he's good at following direction and instructions, and he's always precise whenever it comes to his serves and stuff; in a way, I feel like his perceptiveness and logical sense on following would be good with baking?

I don't know.

But I want a Kageyama that can bake, dammit.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer I don't own Haikyuu

* * *

"Marry me."

"No." The boy responds without hesitation, his eyes not once flickering away from the screen of his phone. Silence crosses the bench, as the onlookers begin to laugh at their platonic talk.

A wheezing boy finally looks up, before gasping, "he didn't even hesitate!"

The victim himself, has also finally put down his device, begins to laugh as well, before claiming, "I registered his statement automatically, and I just said 'no' out of instinct! I didn't even really stop to think!"

The person who asked such a stupid question in the first place, is also sputtering off his embarrassment between chorltles as well. He assumed that Iwaizumi would've at least stuttered or blushed. But rather, he responded to him such a monotonous way, that it was absolutely brilliant and hilarious in its on way. "I just asked that question because..." He chokes on his laughter.

Kyoutani, who was clearly startled by the sudden question, is otherwise indifferent. Instead, he voices obliviously, "if it was Oikawa asking instead of Matsukawa, he'd probably react differently."

And to his amusement and enjoyment, at that, Iwaizumi's eyes dilate a millimeter, as the plastic, disposable water bottle crinkles within Iwaizumi's grip. "Excuse me?" He snarls, his scariness diminished by the scarlet blossoming across his cheekbones. "That Shittykawa."

"Oi, Hanamki," Matsukawa begins, wiggling his eyebrows. "Blackmail. Someone take a picture of Iwaizumi now-"

He isn't sure when, but somewhere along the short period of time Oikawa's disappearance was announced, they began to continuously talk, whether about or similar to him [Oikawa]. It's as if they're trying to replace the emptiness Oikawa left behind with continuous discussion of nonsense. Like acting and teasing Iwaizumi constantly would somehow make things better.

It's not making things worse, at the least.

However, while it makes them laugh, and perhaps hopeful;

It certainly make things lonelier.

Well Hanamki waves it off. That's all he's been doing, hasn't it? Shaking such concerning things off out of spite or just the lack of motivation to chase after it. He just lost energy to even bother to care about Oikawa.

He's worried.

Oikawa was certainly a special person.

But right now, he's so lost within their little Wonderland they created of fake reality, that he cannot bring himself to care anymore, if possible.

And that saddens him.

* * *

"We're not doing this.

"We're doing this!"

"Please don't."

"It'll work!"

"Don't."

Oikawa is honestly incredibly happy, and extremely hopeful that Kageyama is even bothering to stop him. Because it seems as though Kageyama actually _cares_ enough about his well being to prevent him from doing idiotic and stupid things that could harm him. While throughout the past day Kageyama acts like a walking dead, and doesn't really care about his health anymore [Oikawa's now the only one who even bothers to try and heal him, as Kageyama just lost any sort of fucks for his well being], he apparently still has that little bit within him that's trying to stop Oikawa from getting hurt.

"He has cameras everywhere. He probably knows that you're planning to escape."

Oikawa tutters. "Trust me, my plan will work perfectly!"

Oikawa isn't stupid enough to do something as horribly planned as this; but he just did it in hopes that Kageyama would at least show any sort of care towards him. While Kageyama may not have any sort of hope on himself, and gave up living, at least he's trying to stop Oikawa from doing anything that could indirectly harm himself. "Okay, fine, I won't do it." He sighs.

"You know we can't leave, right?"

"Such a downer, Tobio-chan!"

Kageyama doesn't even flinch at his name, his dull irises just swivel to the ground. "You need to take a shower. When was the last time you had your last shower?" Like a scolded child, the boy continues to stare at his feet. Scoffing, Oikawa rubs a strand of the boy's hair between his fingers. "Tobio-chan," He chides with a scorning timbre. "Your hair will become oily and malnourished!" He whines. "I change your bandages and help clean your wounds everyday~" He waggles a finger rather accusingly. "At least tell me you can do this by yourself without my help!"

He doesn't answer. Oikawa pouts. He hates it whenever Kageyama doesn't answer. It's as if Kageyama's slipping farther away each day by his lack of answers. "Oi, Tobio-chan. You still care about that orange-haired Shrimp, right?" No response, but with such perceptive eyes, Oikawa's able to capture the small flicker of Kageyama's eyes as they quickly looks up within their sockets, before reverting back to the ground. "I care about my Iwa-chan too." He wasn't suspecting that he would be emotional himself, yet, he's able to realize that he does, the moment his voice cracks on his best friend's name. "I miss him a lot. I know you don't think you can leave. And you practically given up on living-but Tobio-chan, hear me out on this: think about it this way, what if one day, you were able to meet Shrimpy once more? And that tall dude and his clingy friend? Meet everyone once more, especially that reserved, pretty blue-eyed girl of your team!" He chirrups. "I keep living, because I think that at least one day, if I keep living, I'll see them again! I will see my annoying group and pet of our group, Mad Dog-chan! Of course, Mad Dog-chan is human, but it's funnier to think that he really is a dog because of his canine behavior."

"So...you keep living because at least when you're alive and not dead, you might see your friends again? Even if the chance is incredibly thin?" Kageyama's voice is low, and his eyes have yet to leave from the carpet. "What if they don't recognize you anymore? What if one day, you go back, and they want to desperately help you, but you just continue to drag them down because of how you are now?"

 _He's scared._

"Tobio-chan, trust me! They're your friends, they'll still love you even if you're like this."

"I think that's not what matters. Even if they still love me, it'd be worse. Because they'll look at me, and they'll realize I'm so incredibly weak and hopeless." He mutters. "And that's worse because that means I'll have to stare at their desperate faces as they realize they can't do anything to fix me and that'd just break them themselves. I'll just drag them down."

Oikawa knew that Kageyama isn't necessarily selfish. But he never thought that Kageyama would be the type, in such a situation as this, to worry more about his friends than himself. "Then you have to get better then, aren't I right?" Oikawa flashes a smile with his tongue poking out, and at that, Kageyama's pupils revolve to the corner of his eye, catching his expression, and a small smile appears upon his pale visage. At that, Oikawa's heart soars.

He can bring Kageyama back.

Which is good, as for one, he's beginning to actually worry for Kageyama's mental strength, and two:

He gets to rub this in Iwaizumi's face after this.

* * *

"Oh yeah, I do live next to the Oikawas." Daniel scratches the stubble among his square jawline. "The police did question me," He admits. "But...well, I really don't know where Tooru-kun went. Gee, but I hope he's found soon. How long's it been since...you-know-who's-"

"Use his name." Daichi mutters. His voice is kind and sugary, but if anyone bothers to digest his actual timbre, they'd come to realize that lying underneath his calm, normal tone is the firm, strict, devil-commanding voice strained through gnashed teeth.

"Oh, I'm sorry-ah-Kageyama-kun's disappearance? It was around a four to five days ago, isn't that right?" _Was it really that long ago?_ Sugawara purses his lips at such a thought. "And Oikawa, around three to four days back then, right?" Sighing, Daniel bounces the volleyball against the polished floors, and Sugawara studies him.

He doesn't know why or how, but somehow, over the years of being an underpaid babysitter for the team, he has developed a strange sixth sense. A sense of being able to receive information from one's behavior, and that information specifically revolves around obscurity. He just has that gut-feeling [which seldom leads him wrong] that always alerts him whenever he feels as though someone's hiding something.

And this was by absolute coincidence-

He was just tossing a ball over to Asahi, who's gently tapping it back towards him, when suddenly, Sugawara's eyes had flicker over to Daniel by accident, as he was momentarily distracted when he mentioned the other missing boy. And that was when his eyes fully lock onto Daniel's behavior, as bells go off within his head, as his brain processed what others weren't able to regulate.

Daniel's posture of nonchalant aura, his offhanded yet reaching the equilibrium of concern for this situation, and the way that Daniel's facing Nishinoya and Kiyiko as he talks to them. Even at first, Sugawara assumed that nothing was wrong. But for some strange reason, there's something dark flashing behind his spectacles. His eyes.

* * *

"This...this is stupid."

"Yeah, I know." Sugawara chuckles awkwardly.

"Suga. You practically pinned down this guy, stalking him home, and now we're just going to talk to him?" Daichi hisses, facing him, an eyebrow raised. "Dude. This guy has cameras up at his door frame."

Sugawara gasps. "Suspicious!"

"Suga. You know that many people have cameras for security reasons, right? And what really is suspicious is that you're here standing at this guy's door frame after following him here an hour ago."

"Yeah, yeah," Sugawara isn't the type to leap into such dark conclusions underneath suspicion, but for some strange reason, here he is, most willingly knocking on this guy's door. "I know. It's weird. But...I got this bad feeling about coach." He frowns. "I know he's temporary, at least, until Ukai-senpai returns this month from his vacation; but I feel as though he's been here long enough for something and to accumulate in his life."

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind." Sugawara sighs, somewhat irritated at the lack of comprehension on his friend's part.

Then Daichi decides to voice out the obvious.

"We couldn't come before the evening? What if he's having dinner with his lady friend?" Daichi murmurs. "Why'd you have to drag me along?" Sugawara just smiles cheerfully at that, and Daichi flushes, muttering incoherent words underneath his breath, rather darkly. Sugawara just emits a chuckle at his groans. "Suga-the things I do for you."

Sugawara laughs once more. "This is for making me believe you were dead!"

"Suga. Please."

Sugawara sighs. "You scared us." He mutters quietly, somewhat abashed. Daichi's eyebrows cock upwards. "It's true!" The male scoffs. "You scared Asahi the most!"

"Idiots, all of them. I wasn't going to die from a damn volleyball."

Scoffing, Sugawara swats his toned arm playfully. "Don't talk about our children like that!" He tutters scornfully.

"This is why they make fun of us, you know. I didn't see this earlier, but here I am, seeing why they decided to label us as their temporary parents whenever they're at school." Daichi grumbles, and Sugawara laughs, connecting his words together. "You know, we should really knock on his door, or else he's just going to see us out here being stalkers."

"Ah, right." Sugawara, winded up in their nolstagic memory-fueled conversations full of symbolism, had forgotten his main purpose for even stalking Daniel for half an hour by chasing after him in his car [thankfully there was much traffic]. He rings the doorbell, and from outside, the two are able to hear a muffled chime. No answer. Feeling polite [and out of habit], he waits a couple seconds to see if Daniel would answer. After that, he punches the doorbell once more. No answer.

Frowning, Daichi turns to him. "Well, we did follow him home like an hour ago, and we just decided to come back now. Do you think that maybe he's left within that period of time?" He suggests. Sugawara groans.

"We waited too long!"

"Yeah, we did." Sugawara glowers at him, picking up on the relief that's poorly hidden and laced within Daichi's tone. He shrugs. "It was going to be awkward...so..." Sugawara moans once more, distraught at their lost chance.

"That means we have to wait until tomorrow-"

"We're doing this again-?!"

"Ugh-oh, wait, no he's driving in now." Sugawara gapes, and Daichi's head swivels around harshly, in such a sharp manner that Sugawara legitimately thought that his head would snap off its neck. "Great!" He clasps his hands together animatedly, and Daichi practically slouches before crumpling on the doorstep as the familiar, black van pulls into the driveway.

Running up next to the car, Sugawara waves, and slowly, the tinted window of the vehicle slides downwards, and a head pops out of the window. "Hey, Suga! And is that-Diachi hiding behind a tree?"

Waving his hands, Sugawara quickly shakes his head, as he crouches down slightly so that he may be at eye-level with his teacher, who's shorter in comparison as he's sitting down in a car. "Yeah, but actually, I'm here to just ask you a couple questions if that's okay-"

"Oh, yeah, ask away. But I have some groceries, including ice cream, and I want to bring that in...so, how about I begin to grab some and you talk to me then, okay?" Nodding furiously, Sugawara quickly sidesteps away from the door, allowing passageway for the man. Stepping out the car, and gently slamming the door behind him, Daniel cracks his knuckles and he begins to walk towards his trunk.

Clearing his throat gently, Sugawara first glares to the side, where he sees a sheepish Daichi sitting on Daniel's doorstep, before pivoting on the heels of his feet and rounding towards Daniel, who's popping his trunk. However, before he's able to question him, he first stares at the abundant amount of groceries stashed away in his trunk. "Whoa, a lot of food." Sugawara comments curiously. "Are you having someone over?" He asks.

Chuckling, Daniel shakes his head. "Nah, it's because I cook my meals. And I _hate_ shopping, so I just often buy a lot at one time to shorten my amounts of trips." He explains. Sugawara nods at that. "So, what were you going to ask me?"

Blinking, Sugawara quickly says, "when you saw Oikawa, did something seem off with him?"

Daniel slowly lowers a paper bag full of groceries. "Ah-no, not really...he seemed kinda disturbed. Like there's something wrong with him. Like something's bothering him." He exclaims, running a hand along his stubble. "But other than that, he seemed okay."

Nodding, Sugawara thanks him. "Wait, not to be rude...but how did you find my house?"

 _Well. Considering how I didn't know how to find Oikawa's house so I couldn't find yours, even with the address because I'm prone to getting lost, I just decided to stalk you driving home for half an hour._

"Oh, I just came to visit Oikawa-san, but then I remembered someone mentioning that you were his neighbor!" He warbles. "And I was like, 'well, I may as well find some more information to see if I can help my friends'. You know, there's this boy, Iwaizumi, who's Oikawa's best friend so I just wanted stuff to comfort him and-"

He's rambling now. And Daichi finally decides to intervene. "Suga, you know, Oikawa-san would be waiting for us." He gives him a rather pointed look. "Thanks again, Daniel-senpai."

"Hahaha, no problem!" He chortles slightly, as he grabs his paper bag, which crinkles in his grip.

* * *

"He said he hated cooking."

"You're being paranoid."

"Who are we talking about it?"

"No one, Oikawa-san." They both say in unison, and at that, the motherly woman just nods slightly, raising an eyebrow at their odd behavior. Sugawara has to say; disregarding Oikawa-san's age and slight wrinkles, she continues to remain looking youthful despite her graying hair. perhaps it's the aura of light that seems to emit from her. Well, Sugawara can definitely see now where Oikawa received his own glowing personality.

Sipping at the broth that Oikawa-san had set out in front of them, Sugawara turns to Daichi. "If he hated cooking, he would've bought food."

"Takeout is expensive, and cooking is much cheaper than buying food in general." Daichi reasons in response, and Sugawara groans, frustrated.

How could Daichi not see? It was just out of interest and him being skeptical. He knows he's being stupid. That he's being completely horrible for judging Daniel and being absolutely picky on what he's doing. "Yeah, yeah...I know, but still! Food would rot in general. There's no way he eats that much alone, and vegetables rot fast."

"They don't rot that fast."

"They do!"

"No they don't."

"Yes they do!"

"Suga. You're just now trying to find any sort of flaw towards Daniel, and you're throwing away any sort of facts or common logic."

"Ugh! Fine, but he's weird, at least admit that."

"Yeah. You know what; he is weird."

"Wha-"

"He's nice."

"Daichi! Nice people aren't weird!"

"In this world, they are."

"Daichi!"

 _"Just drop it!"_

 _"But there's something off with him!"_

 _"THIS IS WHY NO ONE LOVES YOU-"_

"Boys, no arguing at my dinner table!"

"Sorry."

Sugawara continues to sip the soup. He's actually glad he visited Oikawa-san's house, and not just because he feels like if he didn't Daniel would know and then be aware that they lied to him. Instead, he feels as though the presence of Oikawa's friends, his age, hanging around Oikawa-san's house made her feel happier. Surely they can't replace her son, and he's glad they didn't. Oikawa-san should always have a special place for her kin, but still, they made her feel less lonely. They gave her a sense of purpose.

And Sugawara's happy he's done that.

* * *

"Did you say that no one loves me?" Sugawara bats his long lashes at Daichi, and the taller man scoffs, rolling his toffee eyes. If there's only one person that would even dare [out of their own conscious, not from Sugawara] to say such harsh words to Sugawara other than a cruel sadist, it's probably Daichi. And Sugawara barely hears him say that.

He's not stupid. he's aware about how others treat him. They all tip-toe around them. He once watched everyone tussle on the ground, and when Kageyama was chasing Hinata around, ready to shove his fist down the boy's throat-he passes by Sugawara, and his punch falters as he loses momentum, and he walks around Sugawara. Even Asahi was hit. Sugawara was completely avoided; it's like no one could hurt him, despite how Sugawara wouldn't lose to a measly punch. He even punched some other ones of his teammates, but none of them dared to shove him back.

They don't treat him as a fragile thing; nor do they act this way because they're scared of him [probably]. It's most likely because they just can't punch him.

Sugawara doesn't know if he feels special for others feeling as though he's some sort of immortal, angelic object, or somewhat left out and awkward for them doing so.

"Suga?"

"Yes?"

"No one loves you."

"You love me."

Waiting for a sardonic reply in response, Sugawara's left somewhat...odd. "Yeah. You're right. I do love you."

It's like someone decided to light his insides with a bonfire until they're nothing more than a goopy mess, with his heart suspended by strings of flames, as he stares up in astonishment at Daichi's statement, who seems completely oblivious to the heat spreading across Sugawara's cheeks. "Hey...Suga-you feeling o-okay?" the man suddenly stutters, taking notice of the heat that's flushing underneath his skin and across his cheekbones. "Are you sick-? I mean, it's kind of hot today maybe y-you didn't drink en-nou-"

"I'm okay." He rasps.

"Idiot, you're sick now."

"Why are you being so mean today?"

"Because you're being a paranoid weirdo and chasing after this guy. You don't even know why you're suspicious of him!"

Feeling relieved that he can feel his reddened visage cool down, indicating his blush will vanish within seconds, he answers with an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, actually, I'm suspicious because my senses are telling me that."

"Yeah...so in response, you decided to chase after a car for half an hour, and stalk him to his house."

"Yeah I have a problem."

"Yeah no, you really do." A sudden buzz alerts him, and sighing, glad that he can't answer to Daichi's eye-roll, he struggles to take out his phone out of his shorts. "Who is it?" He peers over Sugawara's shoulder, and Sugawara flinches, feeling his heated breath spreading across the nape of his neck. He cringes; while some may think it's cute, he finds it unpleasant from the odd spread of temperature. "Oh, the group chat." He pulls away, thankfully. "My phone's on silent."

Squirming, Sugawara quickly places his phone back into his back pocket. "Don't answer it."

"Why?"

"Kuroo broke into our apartment again." Diachi and Sugawara, being childhood friends, decided to rent a room from an apartment, as they decided they should begin to move out of their parents' household. That and also because it's cheaper this way. Of course, the apartment is pleasantly located near one of Sugawara's favorite cafes, and happens to be close to school. They also made the horrible mistake of letting Akaashi have a spare version of the keys to their rented room out of caution. Unfortunately, disregarding Akaashi's amazing ability of being careful and preventing stupid things from happening; Bokuto and Kuroo are somehow smart enough to find out wherever Akaashi carefully hides the tool.

"He broke into our apartment for...?"

"He says it's an emergency." Sugawara murmurs, recalling Kuroo's texts. "And when I asked if it seriously was an emergency, he said it was. _Apparently_ , he and Kenma had ran out of fro-yo. Actually, that's somewhat understandable-"

"Oh my God. They ate my frozen yogurt!"

Sugawara stops, as the realization hits him. "Kill them."

* * *

The strained smile clearly means, _go away._ But Oikawa balantly ignores such a darkened expression. "Tobio-chan, don't be like that!" Another evil stare that should send him shuddering. Sighing, he flicks at the outfit he's forced to wear. He hates how Daniel has a great taste of fashion. "Now, c'mon, help me cook! After all, Daniel has bought us food, how thoughtful!" He takes satisfaction in the stiffness and possible stimulated anger that appears upon Daniel's expression at the detection of the bitter coldness infused with Oikawa's voice when he obviously refused to use Daniel's preferred label as 'father', but rather, his actual name.

"Yes. Thank you. Tobio, please go help your brother." Daniel states calmly. Kageyama slowly sways as he rises from the couch, and approaches Oikawa, and towards the bags of food. "Now, I understand that with the absence of Sachiko-" Oikawa's stomach stirs, his insides chilled, "-that dinner may be late, and don't worry, I forgive you. So, you two must take up the job. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Don't worry, I'll soon find a new mother for you."

 _A new mother. He might kidnap a new person._

Oikawa hopes he doesn't vomit into the stir-fry he's going to create.

That's when a trembling hand reaches for the spatula Oikawa's holding. Blinking, Oikawa turns to see Kageyama, who's shaking slightly and swaying on his two feet [Oikawa can tell he's not been sleeping well. Sure, he forces Kageyama to eat meals at least, but he can't make the boy sleep], and he scowls at Oikawa's questioning glance. "You can't cook."

"I can cook!"

Even when Kageyama's voice is raspy and somewhat shaky, he's still a complete smart ass, Oikawa comes to dryly realize, when the boy answers with:

"You're stabbing the chicken."

"And your point is?"

"You're bleeding. You stabbed your finger."

"Oh shit."

"Tooru-kun, don't swear." Daniel intervenes.

* * *

After bandaging Oikawa's finger [which hurts like hell, but there's no way he's going to admit such a thing], Oikawa watches as Kageyama incorporates the chopped vegetables into the browning rice. "You can't cook either, can you?"

"At least my food's edible."

"Yeah okay." Oikawa sticks his tongue out. "Iwa-chan used to cook very well." He lowers his voice. He's aware that Daniel becomes exceptionally angry if they mention their past life in front of him. But, at the moment, the man's occupied reading a book in his bedroom. Probably some creepy murder-shit. It'd make sense. "He was a good person. Would always buy me milk-bread."

And to his surprise, Kageyama actually responds to him. "Hinata...everyone...would always come out and buy meatbuns with us. It was nice. I missed doing that."

"I miss my teammates too."

"I miss my mother."

"Yeah."

And they fall into their familiar silence. But it's no longer uncomfortable or awkward. Just familiar and warm, as this time, Oikawa's pleasantly surprised, that they left their conversation on a rather nostalgic, somewhat saddening, but fond note.

* * *

WHat did I do?

I'm so sorry I'm just doing filler things instead of progressing(?)

I PROMISE I MIGHT PROGRESS


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer I don't own haikyuu

* * *

It's as if Kageyama's the non-official, unsaid cook of this house. After all, Daniel, being the 'head of the household', doesn't have time to cook [in reality Oikawa just believes he's too proud of a man to do such a thing], and also because Oikawa, knowing that they can't escape this basement, doesn't dare to set fire to this entire living space and accidentally killing all of them in the process. Sure, it'd be satisfying to watch Daniel cook and burn in the hell he'll create, all the while choking on the tainted air-

But Oikawa doesn't feel like killing himself yet.

[Kageyama, to Oikawa, is debatable]

Sighing, Oikawa watches as Kageyama creates their lunch. Oikawa always enjoys the daytimes, when Daniel's gone doing whatever he does. Probably sells organs of the victims he killed. At that, Oikawa cringes. He meant to think that as a joke, but his mind had automatically wavered to the danger-zone of Sachiko. His stomach drops. "Salads? Tobio...you're an athlete. You must eat things with more protein~"

"So you don't want lunch."

"Tobio-chan! You know what." Oikawa shoves the boy aside. "I'm cooking today!" Unease spreads across Kageyama's normally expressionless visage. "Please." He turns to the boy, who just shrugs in response. In reality, Kageyama's indifferent to all this.

* * *

"Oikawa-san."

"Call me Tooru-san! We're friends now!" _Did I just say that._ Oikawa never thought that someone like Kageyama would see him any more than an older student, and that Oikawa would never see him more than dirt. And yet, here he is, labeling their newfound relationship as friends. He cringes, knowing that just a week ago, he'd probably tell anyone to get shit out of their brains if they even mentioned such a disastrous thing happening. But Kageyama's weak at the moment, and Oikawa cannot help but feel protective over this new, vulnerable version of Kageyama. It's probably because Oikawa often takes care of his younger nephew, and due to such habits, he just has a developed instinct on having to protect kids. And though Kageyama is definitely not a prepubescent kid anymore, Oikawa won't see him as anything more than that.

"Oikawa-san." Kageyama continues in a flat voice.

"Hm?" He decides to let go on Kageyama's stubborn intent on calling him by his last name.

"This looks like a sacrifice made from human guts for the spawn of the devil."

"You know I'm going to make you eat this, right?" Oikawa resists shoving the lunch he created down Kageyama's throat.

* * *

Whenever Oikawa talks with Kageyama, he barely responds. But, this way, just chatting with him, it makes Oikawa just a little bit happier.

* * *

 _Oh my God this is so awkward._ Kuroo sweats nervously, as the man clears his throat. "Ah...hello." He swallows a stream of swears, which leaves a bitter taste scorching the back of his throat. "Daniel." He bows out of politeness. He hates how he's willing to bend down to him, but at the same time, proud that he refuses to act childish in such a situation. Then, in the sunlight, he squints as his spine straightens. Something stained Daniel's shirt, near the neck.

"Oh, Tetsorou-kun!" At the sound of his name, his clench on his bags tighten. "About a couple days ago...I'm incredibly sorry." His eyebrow raises, and Kuroo, returning to his usual personality, inclines his head to the side, utterly confused. He comprehends why Daniel is apologizing...but he never thought that Daniel would bow to a 'disappointment', as he used to christen Kuroo.

"Oh, no, I overreacted." Kuroo responds, and as he recalls that day, shame and humiliation stirs in his stomach, provoked by his reaction. He acted in such a childish manner. Of course, Kuroo had the right to react in such a theatrical fashion, he supposes, but that doesn't mean it detracts any sort of embarrassment from immaturity laced within that situation. "I shouldn't have done that." He says. "I'm sorry too."

At that, a smile crosses Daniel's features. And Kuroo, feeling immensely uncomfortable being in such a position, decides to make his leave. He gives a strained smile, and he begins to skirt back into the crowd of shoppers out on this fine day, Daniel's commanding voice causes him to stop. "Tetsu!" Kuroo shudders, but he pivots on his feet, the bulky bags of groceries banging against his thigh as he did so.

He blames the sweat stain that's staining the back of his shirt on the sun.

"Yes?" He bites back his tart tone, as he tries to keep himself sugarcoated.

At least this time, he's not panicking. Of course, the foreshadowing of meeting Daniel at an outdoor supermarket is vague and more shocking than seeing Daniel talking with his mother in his house; but still. "I haven't seen you in so long! You've grew a lot too! You know, maybe we should catch up. How does dinner sound? There's this new restaurant opening, it's just right across that block," He points his finger to indicate the location.

 _Hahahaha someone save me._

"Ah, I can't. Not tonight." Kuroo shakes his head, losing any sort of sickly sweet voice he may have used. Now, he remains indifferent, hoping that Daniel would receive his message. He's done with him. Sure, Daniel can live here. In fact, he seems cleaner. He seems happier and definitely more stable. He's lost weight. He got his shit together. Kuroo wonders if he's still addicted to the taste of alcohol. And at this, Kuroo never thought this would happen-but his curiosity's piqued. He's interested and severely curious on how Daniel's doing now.

"So, when are you free? I'd love to catch up with my son!" Kuroo smiles at that, which seems to feel nearly as painful as the horrible wrench in the pit of his stomach when his father used their blood-related label. "I'm free this entire week after I'm done with school." He informs.

"School..." Kuroo didn't mean to echo Daniel's words, but this seems to jar him just slightly. He's working with the Karasuno team. He winces, wondering how he treats the teammates. Kuroo can definitely say from experience that Daniel isn't necessarily the best with kids. Or humans in general.

"Yeah, I work at Karasuno Highschool!" Daniel nods animatedly. "I suppose you heard of it, right?" Kuroo nods mutely. "So, when are you free? We have so much to catch up on."

Kuroo wants to desperately state that he's currently drowning in homework, or that he's intimidated by studies and volleyball at the moment; but he can't bring himself to lie, which doesn't surprise him. He's legitimately curious on Daniel's life. "Ah...I guess that I'm free tomorrow night." _No, Kuroo, don't do this. You have a test that day._

 _Well it's not like I study anyways-_

"Great!" And Daniel waves, before leaving.

Daniel departed from Kuroo, who's standing in front of a cashier of a fruit stand, who shouts at him out of frustration for standing in front of his stand and not buying anything for the past five minutes. At the cashier's screams, Kuroo just nods, dazed, before walking away. _Did I seriously just say that?_ Apparently he did, as he lugs his bags home.

Well he's certainly not telling his mother his plans for the next day.

But he feels proud. He's proud that he was able to even communicate to Daniel without shaking or collapsing. He talked to Daniel, sure, formally with a turbulence of emotions crashing within him, all the while lacking any sort of lust for anything more. But it's enough.

At that, Kuroo wonders if perhaps he and Daniel can mend their relationship. It seems as if Daniel got his shit together. Kuroo can never forgive him for his past actions, especially when he harmed his mother-

But Kuroo supposes that maybe he and Daniel can cut each one another from their lives once more like previously, but this time, ending on a good note.

That is, until Kuroo recalls their conversation. He sits upright on his bed. Sure Daniel sounded pleasant and formally mannered; but there's something. Something that caught Kuroo's eye earlier in their conversation. Something that made him feel as though his intestines have been frozen, and that frost crawls through the rest of his body. Kuroo recognizes such a stain. After all, he's often shrouded by girls [Kuroo has to say that he's not necessarily attracted to any of them at all, and despite what people may say about him, he's much too shy to kiss any one of them] and many try to make a move on him.

That was lipstick.

Daniel's got a new girlfriend.

And this is when Kuroo's rocky determination concretes within him; he feels the need to interrogate Daniel. Kuroo feels somewhat guilty. After all, he feels as though he's indirectly causing other people pain, by not telling the police about Daniel's psychotic behavior. Because if he had, Daniel wouldn't be loose right now. But Daniel is; so doesn't that mean because of Kuroo's lack of action, Daniel is still free to hurt other woman?

Well, Kuroo most definitely can't allow such a thing to happen.

* * *

"Hello people who don't live here." Kuroo snorts at the immediate hatred that crosses Tsukishima's countenance. "How did you guys even get in my house?" He questions, a permanent, obviously fake smile bitterly uncurling upon his face. He turns to Yamaguchi, who shrugs in response, also in awe. Snorting, Kuroo just lazily waves at the tall blond, who's glare darken immensely, and at this, Kuroo glares back at him, noting how Kenma shifts slightly, clearly unnerved by Tsukishima's gaze of absolute annoyance.

Stroking his friend on the head, Kuroo stands up, his joints popping as he does so. "So, funny thing is, we ran out of space. And so we came to your house!" He chirps cheerfully, and Bokuto hoots from the couch, nodding in agreement.

Deadpanned, the setter who has isolated himself out of fear that stupidity might contaminate him, finally speaks: "Save me." Akaashi doesn't need saving. Or maybe he does. Apparently Superman gets tired some times, Kuroo realizes with amusement, as he stares at Akaashi, who looks positively done with them.

"Get out."

"But Tsukki-"

"Don't call me that." He snaps, clicking his tongue as he turns to Hinata, who doesn't cow underneath him, but rather, stick his tongue out. "Oh. You're here too." He realizes, as Daichi, who also seems positively, flat-out fucking done with their shit, walk in. "Shouldn't you watch over them?" Tsukishima questions Daichi with an accusing tone.

At this, Daichi just mutters, "there were too many...even with Yaku and everyone elses' help...there was just too much stupidity for us to handle..."

"Oi, Tsukki-" Yamaguchi addresses the boy, and Hinata emits an indignant squawk as Yamaguchi leaves unscathed at using Tsukishima's unsaid nickname. At this realization, Kuroo snickers, entertained as the short ginger tries to attract the lanky one's attention, who in return, absolutely ignores him. "How did they get into your house anyways?"

At this, Kuroo just laughs sheepishly. "You left your window open."

"Yeah, you did!" Terushima shouts from the kitchen. Kuroo scowls. That boy said he'd get salsa and chips. It's been five minutes already.

"...How did you know where I lived?" Then, he holds up a hand. "Never mind, I really don't want to know. Get out before I call actual responsible people." Then, as if on cue, possibly the two most simple-minded, irrational boys walk out of the kitchen. They both are crunching on Doritos loudly, but stop in unison at the sight of Tsukishima. "That's it, I'm calling them." He turns away from Nishinoya, who happened to have gagged on a chip, and is now regurgitating onto Tsukishima's carpet. "I'm calling Sugawara."

Kenma burrows into the couch, and Bokuto whoops loudly at the scene, while the other boy, Tanaka, chokes on his own chips, but has managed to keep it down.

"Whoa!" A loud, extremely happy voice cuts in. A bumbling boy intervenes, stumbling through the entrance way to the living room. "Look what I found!" Lev gasps, holding up plastic dinosaur figurines. Kuroo frowns. If he's correct, Tsukishima has an older brother. But it'd be highly unlikely that a sibling of an older age would have something as childish, which concludes to one result that's extremely strange and very, very off of reality...but it's the only option left-

"Oi...Tsukki..." Kuroo begins, his eyes dilating along with his sly grin. "You have plastic dinosaurs in your house?"

"Get out."

* * *

Clapping, Nishinoya whistles as the exuberant blonde leaps up, doing a wild split in midair. "Ha!" Shouts the boy, and Terushima continues to leap around the tables, stealing food. Kuroo snorts as Hinata follows the blonde's example, running around and snagging bits of food from the plates of others. Sighing, he tries to ignore the desperate glare burning in the back of his head.

Maybe it was somewhat his fault for inviting Karasuno along with other teams to a party after having multiple matches against one another, especially out of a stupid excuse such as nostalgia, but he couldn't just leave them out. _Ah, dammit. Coach Ukai, when are you coming back?_ Kuroo thinks with a disgruntled manner, furiously trying to ignore Daniel, who has continued to try and catch his eye for some time.

That's when a familiar, adorable setter approaches him. "Oi, Kuroo!" The boy waves animatedly. Kuroo nods in acknowledgement, unable to respond properly as he's currently shoving rice into his mouth. He also decides he must find Kenma and force him to eat his meal as well, along with confiscating his electronic device as it'll just distract Kenma. He inwardly snorts. He's aware that many decide that it's Kenma who's the underpaid babysitter and the responsible one, but Kuroo has to say, he pulls his own weight too; Kenma is similar to a child at times, and Kuroo often finds himself watching over Kenma and making sure he's well, as Kenma rarely bothers to take care of himself.

"Kuroo, may I ask you a question?" Sugawara questions with a smile.

Swallowing his lump of food, Kuroo nods, rasping, "Yeah, sure."

"Why is Daniel staring at you like that?"

At this, Kuroo shrugs nonchalantly. In complete honesty, he's humiliated by his past. Absolutely embarrassed by his cowardliness and weak form back then. And perhaps that's one factor that's restraining him from telling even Kenma about his relationship with Daniel. He wasn't planning on letting Kenma know, but he found out anyways. "Ah, I don't really know." Kuroo shrugs.

And that's when Sugawara leans in slowly, and Kuroo's eyes dilate as his retinas shrunk, shock by the sudden seriousness that crosses Sugawara's expression. Honestly, disregarding Sugawara's sweet exterior, he's actually quite scary in Kuroo's opinion. "Kuroo...don't you think Daniel's kind of weird?"

* * *

Sugawara finds himself telling Kuroo about his suspicions on nothing. He doesn't know why. But easily, Sugawara was able to comprehend that Kuroo's lying and having an offhandish aura purposefully; Kuroo knows why Daniel's eyes continue to flicker at him with such intensity. But nobody else notices, as such a gaze is lost within the crowd of happy idiots, who are also known as 'teammates'.

"Yeah...like. I see him bring home a bunch of groceries but he mentioned how he hated cooking, and he also doesn't have a girlfriend, according to him. Or a wife." Sugawara says.

"You know that doesn't really mean anythi-"

"Shh!" Sugawara glares at Kuroo, who automatically stunts his words. Sugawara hears enough of his foolishness from Daichi himself, already. "But seriously. Like...I just don't like him." He murmurs. And to his surprise, Kuroo's now listening to him with such fixated attention, that Sugawara hesitates, and stares. Perhaps he said something wrong? After all, Kuroo's known to have an attention spam for five seconds. "Ah," quickly, he adopts a sickly sweet tone. "But please don't tell him that!" He mentions, being sure to sound abashed despite not being so at all.

"No." Kuroo shakes his head. "I won't tell him. But by 'no', I mean I don't think it's weird what you think. I don't like him either." At this, the angelic figure raises an eyebrow, clearly waiting for some sort of explanation. However, Kuroo just flips him a peace-sign and a signature coy smile, before bouncing over to Kenma.

* * *

Feeling incredibly grateful to escape Sugawara [no matter how ungraceful], Kuroo shudders, feeling now two different gazes latched onto him. He has no idea why people decide that Sugawara is an innocent, delightful figure radiating kindness.

He's practically a mother wolf, ready to snap off Kuroo's head for disobedience and fibbing.

But, trying to follow normalcy, he turns to Kenma, who's bundled up on the bleachers of the gym.

"Eat!" He holds out the remainder of his food, which happens to be steamed rice and vegetables. At this, Kenma shudders, recoiling from his arm. Scowling, Kuroo, having the advantage with strength and height, towers over the crouching, hissing boy, and retrieves his electronic with little to no effort on his part. Kenma, however, is clinging onto his arm tightly, baring his teeth, resembling a savage animal. "Kenma, eat!" Kuroo quickly yanks his arm free, and shoves his device back into his pocket, as he hands over his paper plate. Kenma sniffs it, and rounds to him with an unimpressed visage of indifference.

But he accepts the plate anyways, probably coming to the conclusion that he won't get his toy back until he eats the entire thing. Beaming, Kuroo ruffles the younger boy's hair, and Kenma slouches, trying to duck his hand, yet unable to resist his fingers massaging his scalp. "Good boy."

* * *

"OH MY GOD IT'S IWA-CHAN!" At this, Kageyama's normalcy of indifference, becomes somewhat piqued, as they turn to the television. They've left it on, but usually disregarding it as normally the alternating cameras have nothing to show. But today, there's the boy, standing outside by the doorsteps. Kageyama, just by the sight of him, practically hugs the television. "Oi, Tobio-kun, move!" Oikawa shoves the boy aside with a foot, staring eagerly at the screen.

The two of them lean unconsciously as Iwaizumi knocks on the door. Kageyama, who has lost any sort of faith in his friends at the prospect of this situation [it's not as though he thinks negatively of them, it's just that in this situation, they're simply lacking any sort of variables that'd remotely relate to him], so to see someone familiar, causes him to stare at the screen.

He has absolutely no hope that Iwaizumi will even have a slight suspicion of their existence. He has already left the optimistic side, and rather, looks things on with a realistic perspective.

But unlike him, there's Oikawa, whose russet eyes are glittering and dilated, his jaw hanging slightly, and gazing at the screen with such intensity that Kageyama believes that his stare will be able to melt the television screen. _"IT'S IWA-CHAN!"_ He screeches with animated excitement as Iwaizumi actually looks straight at them, indicating that he's eyeing the camera.

"You said that already."

However, Iwaizumi quickly leaves the steps, after finding no one answering the door. But not before trying to peer through the windows placed beside the doors. Of course, Kageyama suspects that there are curtains blocking his vision. "He left." Kageyama says dully, and Oikawa screams into a pillow.

* * *

Iwaizumi had tried to knock on Daniel's door. Apparently, he's Ukai's temporary substitute coach, and happens to be the new neighbor of Oikawa.

 _"He's creepy!"_ He vaguely recalls Oikawa's complaints. However, throughout the last few days he seen Oikawa, the boy has done nothing but whine and simper about his new neighbor, labeling him as nutty as a fruitcake, despite being one himself. At this, Iwaizumi had talked to Oikawa's mother about Daniel, but she proclaimed that Oikawa was griping and being overly paranoid about him because he's 'different'. And honestly, that does sound like Oikawa. Besides, according to his mother, his neighbor was fairly great personality-wise, and happens to be a delight.

But, for some strange reason, he trusts Oikawa. Oikawa always had that developed sense on reading people, after all. And apparently, Oikawa isn't wrong. Studying the door frame, he notes the camera pointed at him, with a blinking red light attached to the camera. _Okay. He is creepy._ Staring at the camera warily, he inwardly quivers, but he looks away, and storms off towards the neighboring household.

Normally, he'd just come in without invitation, but at the moment, he feels exceptionally awkward, before he steps into the house to greet Oikawa-san.

* * *

Kuroo didn't notice it until the next day.

In fact, as he's meeting up with his father, Kuroo begins to realize how fake he was. The proper tone of firmness underneath his father's voice, the way he oozes confidence yet seems gentle, Kuroo's able to easily tell that it's fake. And while Kuroo's generally oblivious, he still knows while Daniel's most definitely a jackass, but he's not a fool.

So Kuroo believes that it's Sugawara who planted suspicion and doubt from two days ago, when he pointedly mentioned Daniel's odd behavior.

He found himself with acute senses, watching Daniel, resembling a cat stalking a curious entity. "Thank you." Kuroo murmurs. Daniel insisted on paying, and honestly, Kuroo's slightly impressed by this. He wraps his hands around the hot chocolate that Daniel bought, and Daniel slides into the booth across from his, gripping onto the black coffee he had taken for himself.

"No problem." _There it is._ The way on how light and feathery his voice seems, yet stable and reaching an equilibrium of confidence and kindness. It's all fake. Perhaps if Kuroo doesn't know how Daniel really sounds like [nobody has control over themselves when they're drunk; a drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts. And Kuroo has faced him multiple times when he's drunk], he would've probably fallen for Daniel.

But Kuroo has known Daniel for too long. Ever since he was a child, he watched Daniel with an odd perceptiveness that most wouldn't at such an age. The way that he kept an eye on Daniel, he's able to calculate Daniel's emotions. At least, the shallow layer of it. When a person's drunk, that's the true persona of him or her. And Kuroo knows that he's still into alcohol.

He had asked, and Daniel admitted that he still continues to drink.

And Kuroo notes as the man rubs his fingers, almost nervously. He used to do that when he was sober. It meant that he's facing an intense sensation on wanting to do something, tell something, _he used to do that before his fist kissed his cheek._ "Daniel," Kuroo clears his throat. "So...you're working at Karasuno as a substitute coach?"

"Ah, yes! You still into volleyball, are you?" Kuroo nods mutely, being careful not to stare. He doesn't know if he can even keep his eyes fixated with the man if he wanted to. But at the same time, he's desperately seeking for some sign. Then, his eyes flicker upwards, and then, it meets the pink smear on his collar. _Right._ That's why Kuroo's here. Because he feels some strange sense of responsibility and guilt. But maybe Daniel isn't that bad. But he seems so fake.

His voice seems fake.

His entire identity seems false.

Or maybe Kuroo's too stubborn to move from his perspective on Daniel.

"So, Kuroo...what grade are you in now?"

"Oh, I'm in my third year." He mutters, not really answering Daniel's question directly.

"That's nice."

The silence that increases in uncomfortablness between them becomes more pronounced, and Kuroo doesn't miss the Daniel's finger that follows the rim of his coffee cup, as he had popped the cap. _He used to do that with his beer bottles._

A vivid image of a knotted, crooked finger trembling as it belongs to a drunktard, follow the slender edge of a beer bottle, before bringing it upwards. Back then, Kuroo was never sure on whether or not Daniel was going to bring it back down, smashing it near Kuroo for either scare or to seriously harm him, or to bring it up to his lips and guzzle the rest of the beer down.

"So...Tetsurou-" _Fuck so we're on first name bases now?_ Kuroo inwardly sighs and cringes. Sure, earlier, he was addressed by his first name, but at least Daniel returned to just 'Kuroo'. But now, he's using Tetsorou.

This is incredibly awkward. He's not used to having such a tense atmosphere. Usually, he's the one to liven up the time or whatnot. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

An opening.

Kuroo takes it willingly. "Ha, no, not yet." He scratches the nape of his neck. "What about you?" He questions innocently, allowing himself to clap eyes with Daniel, before breaking off and staring at his creamy drink. He takes a sip, and immediately regrets it as the fluid scalds his tongue, leaving it numb. But he doesn't react.

"No." Daniel gives him a crooked smile. "I guess we're both single in one case or another, huh?" Kuroo plasters on a grin. He's sure that Daniel can sense his own false cheeriness as well. They're both plastic dolls in this game, where they see if the other will break. But Kuroo has solid information to go on. Daniel wouldn't own lipstick, unless if he has a female around him.

"Yep."

"Uh, Tetsorou, how are your grades?" _Oh my God this is hell. This is so awkward and cringe-worthy. I feel second-hand embarrassment. Save me._ Kuroo desperately wants to whip out his phone and call Kenma for reassurance. But then again, Kenma would question why he is with his old abusive father, and another thing, it'd be incredibly rude to do so. So, instead, he sucks it up.

"My grades are decent."

At this, Daniel laughs. His eyes remain glassy marbles behind his flashing lenses, however.

They continue their immensely awkward conversation, but the uncomfortable sensation is suddenly infused with wariness, the moment Daniel asks about Kageyama and Oikawa. At this, Kuroo's spine becomes rigid, his posture straightening. "Oh, yeah, no they're still missing." By now, Daniel's eyes remain on him.

"Do you have any sort of suspicions...like, does anyone, and I mean anyone not just you, have any sort of idea what may have happened to them?" His voice remains light, but for some strange reason, Kuroo's receiving a sense of fear. Back then, if Daniel ever went outside with Kuroo, he always used that voice, as if to warn Kuroo to 'behave'. He's using the same underlying timbre right now.

His chest tightens.

"No." He shakes his head. "Nothing to go on."

"Now that's too bad."

If possible, that single sentence sounded clipped and indifferent in comparison to everything else he said.

Plastic.

Plastic like a doll.

* * *

I SWEAR THAT SHIT GOES DOWN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. I PROMISEEEE [kinda].


	10. Chapter 10

So this is basically clearing things up. Tbh you can skip this part if you want to:

* * *

Okay, now, I would like to clear something, not all mental people are dangerous.

In this book, my character is portrayed that way, and I was not aware on how it could offend others, so I'm truly sorry if I happen to bother you with my character or unrealistic views.

So, most people with mental problems, they do not act as my character does. Instead, they're normally the victims instead.

My story is based off a movie, which is based off of a real person, and is not to be taken seriously. In other words, do not believe what you read here, especially based off of my fake characters. The person, which my book and the movie was originated from, is a horrible man called Ariel Castro. When he was caught, he argued that he was sick, despite not having any psychiatric illness.

Basically what I'm trying to say, is that you don't need to be mentally ill to be a horrible person, and I did not mean to spread the theory that horrible things that happen could only be done by a mentally ill person. There's absolutely nothing that proves this, and it has no connection between whether or not you're ill but being horrible person in general.

Now, as I quote from someone, "So many people look at unimaginably horrible crimes and say they could only be done by a sick person, but it is a VERY rare occasion that sickness has anything to do with it".

And, now, most sick people, [as the majority here], are unable to get help even if they tried, because in America, our health department sucks.

I do not mean to spread that people with illness are dangerous. They're more likely to be the victim, instead.

Once again, I hope you receive the message, and I want to apologize if you are bothered by my characters.

[I would also like to credit the user 'ButterflyDreaming' for most of the given information above, along with alerting me about this serious situation]. [I also ripped off of some of her words in complete honesty, but that's because she put down what one would say in the best way possible].

* * *

 _ ***IMPORTANT**_ [cuz this is my apology and I'm extremely sorry ;-;]

- **I know I said shit goes down this chapter**

-And it does

-But it's kind of anticlimatic. I'm sorry

-Really. I'm seriously sorry of this kind of disappoints you. I couldn't find any way to make it intense while making sure things make sense.

-This is also the crappiest chapter I've ever written in my life I am so sorry.

-Oh. And funny story:

I took a long time with this because I may or may not have deleted my work for this chapter a couple days ago, and so I had to rewrite this thing ^-^.

-I wanted to kill someone :3

* * *

 _Like a dog,_ Yahaba watches, amused, as Kyoutani practically leans towards the direction of Daniel, before recoiling automatically. In fact, Daniel doesn't seem aware of Kyoutani, who's hovering behind him, with a scrutinizing glare. At his behavior, Yahaba sighs, and reaches forward, grabbing the lean boy's shoulder, yanking him away. Kyoutani emits a noise resembling a growl, and at this, Yahaba loses it, chortling to himself.

Hearing his laugh, Kyoutani frowns, and straightens his slouched posture, glowering at him. "No, it's just..." Yahaba isn't really sure how to tell him without indirectly insulting the proud boy. "That you...you really do act like a dog-" Perhaps a smarter being wouldn't say such a thing around such a fearsome appearing boy, whose withering gaze can burn holes into sidewalks.

But Yahaba isn't necessarily dumb. He's just incredibly arrogant. Sure, he feels somewhat proud at the fact that he tamed the rabid 'dog', but honestly, Yahaba enjoys Kyoutani's company. Which is strange. They never communicate with one another outside of school, and Kyoutani seems intent on avoiding befriending people.

But today, Yahaba had forced himself to march straight up to the boy with a creepy aura, ignoring the pitying gazes from mutened bystanders, as he straight up asked Kyoutani to accompany him for ice cream, claiming that Kyoutani needs to converse with others. Yahaba's honestly concerned about the boy. He's his friend. And to see Kyoutani isolating himself, Yahaba presumes it'd be horrible, at least, in his perspective, to be in such a lonely state. In fact, somewhere in the back of his head, he believes that Kyoutani isn't even conscious that he's in such a pathetic state, considering how he's never had friends before, so he's lacking experience, meaning that he doesn't even realize that he's lonely and that he could have something better.

So, Yahaba may have forced Kyoutani to come with him.

Of course, Kyoutani had to automatically point out that it was weird. But he didn't refuse. Which was good.

"And look...stop...just stop sniffing Daniel." Yahaba then stops, angling his head slightly as he remembers something; Kyoutani, during the small gathering with the other teams, had shied away from Daniel, snarling and bristling, claiming that he disliked that man. As if he sensed something darker within the man. Yahaba rolls his eyes at this, but he cannot help but feel slightly worried.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"You make that face. Your nose scrunches up and that means you're thinking." At this, Yahaba slowly allows himself to fully comprehend his words, before a dark blush starts to spread across his face from embarassment and some other tangle of emotions.

"Shut up." He scowls, jabbing at Kyoutani with his elbow. He reutrns to his train of thought, reconnecting them. Right; Kyouatni with his injustice displeasure towards Daniel. Sure...Kyoutani's somewhat...temperamental, and it doesn't take much to set him off, but he reacts purely on instinct sometimes, as Yahaba observed during volleyball, and when he told Kyoutani this, the boy just claims that he just follows his gut-instinct. Attack. Prey. Kyoutani has his own special senses in that way. But he can also read people rather easily. Maybe not their emotions or thoughts, but definitely not just a shallow perspective on their personalities.

If Kyoutani is intrigued, then that means he's not doing it on a whim. And so, through Kyoutani, Yahaba's suddenly interested in Daniel as well.

But then again, he is a foreigner who randomly appeared as a substitute, with such an aura of odd tranquility, that it even unnerves Yahaba himself. And he never even talked to this man before. He inwardly chides himself. He's slightly frightened by that man, but not Kyoutani, who's even christened 'Mad Dog'. Strange.

"Now, eat your ice cream." He hands the cone to Kyoutani, and cautiously, he takes it, his amber eyes kept on Yahaba. Silently, the boy begins to lick it. Yahaba tilts an eyebrow out of acknowledgement towards the way that he eats the ice cream. Lapping up the melted pieces that dribble down the cone. The way he uses his tongue resembles the way a dog would eat.

He really is a canine in one way or another.

"So, what were you thinking about?" Kyoutani gruffly inquires. Yahaba shrugs.

"Nothing important."

And then, as they peacefully eat their melting, soft ice cream, the boy suddenly speaks once more. "He smells like alcohol."

"Huh?"

"That man. He smelled like alcohol." He then wrinkles his nose. "Flowers. He smelled like perfume too."

* * *

Kenma feels slightly bad. Just slightly. After all, he knows he shouldn't pry into Kuroo's life, but here he is, pulling up tabs onto his computer. He should feel more cautious, most definitely. Somewhere in the back of his mind, something's whispering, _'don't do it.'_

He's doing it.

Now, hacking into databases isn't necessarily the best thing morally, but as he reads the countless articles, buried into the schools' archives, he's unable to reprimand a hollow sensation that rings through his head. His entire body stiffens, and a frigid chill has frosted over his bones. Shakily, he continues to translate the pages from English to Japanese.

He recalls what Kuroo has told him.

His father was a bad man. This definitely supports so. Quickly, he takes out his cell. He also vaguely remembers hearing Kuroo tell him that Sugawara is paranoid, and that he seems suspicious of this Daniel. Now, Kenma feels as though he should tell Kuroo first about this information that he found, but for some strange reason, he believes that Kuroo shouldn't be informed about this. Definitely not.

Making up his mind, he quickly finds Sugawara's number among the countless contacts that Hinata decided to enter his phone. Quickly, he finds the one he's looking for, and he holds the celluar device to his ear, as he waits for the ringing to end. The line picks up. "Suga..." Kenma speaks, only to be cut off by a rougher voice.

"Is this Kenma?" Stiffening at the huskier tone of voice, Kenma stops. "It's me, Daichi. I'm sorry, but Suga is currently shopping; he left his phone at my house." At this, Kenma just raises his eyebrows, as he contemplates what to do next. "So, what is it that you need? I can pass it to Suga if you'd like."

Of course Daichi would be curious. Other than Hinata, Kenma rarely contacts anyone from Karasuno. "Nothing. It's just something about Daniel?" He hears an exasperated sigh from the other end of this connection, and Kenma's curiosity wanders.

"Is Suga still going about this? He keeps on saying weird stuff about Daniel. Even went as far as following him home." Kenma, at this, is startled, but he feels rather aspired and finds Suga even more impressive than usual. He underrated Sugawara's abilities; for Sugawara to suspect Daniel for whatever reason he has, and to go that far to prove it, is completely inspiring, especially considering how he's not wrong about being skeptical over Daniel. "Did he drag you into this? Did he make you...stalk Daniel online or whatever?"

"No. I did it myself." _And I have reasons too._ At first, Kenma just done this to search up on Kuroo's father. Kuroo refuses to talk about him, even seeming calm over such a thing. For a kid who deals with a horrible man, as Kuroo's mother screeched, he was incredibly indifferent to this situation. Sure, Kuroo seems snuffed and oddly silent whenever Daniel comes into view, but other than that, he seems fine.

And Kenma, being either a horrible or good friend he is, decided to search up Daniel. "And Sugawara has a right to be suspicious." Kenma finally talks, after stunting Daichi into an awkward silence. "According to this American article, Daniel's rather well known. Apparently, he was caught more than once, in every school he attends, having an affair with a female student. He was released of all charges. But I went a little deeper. I started to search up the names of the female students he screwed around with. They don't exist. All of the female students went missing shortly after he's released from the schools he was caught in." He proclaims quietly. At this, Daichi doesn't remark.

After seconds of silence, Kenma finally speaks cautiously, "Daichi-san, are you still-"

"Yes." Daichi no longer has that normal confidence infused with his voice; rather, it sounds dead. Hollow. Almost as if he's phlegmatic to all of this. Kenma twitches. He should've waited for Sugawara. But Kenma had assumed, that as Daichi's the current captain of Kageyama's volleyball team, he should tell him. Apparently, this was a bad idea. But now that he already informed Daichi about this, he supposes he should just tell him everything.

Kenma exhales softly. "And ...uh...there are cases, such as when he worked in middle or high schools, younger kids would go missing. Of course, Daniel wasn't blamed...but in every school that Daniel attended for those age groups, at least one kid goes missing. Even a girl that had a Japanese name, Yuki Shinozaki. Another student is someone..." He pauses. Such an odd name. "E-Emil-ee." He struggles to pronounce the Americanized name. "Watt-er-son. And there are more students who are gone but I'm not going to name them."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Oh hey he speaks."

"Kenma!"

He can't help it. Kenma just happens to be accustomed to responding with a snarky and sardonic tone. "Sorry." He's well aware how he sounds far from his statement. "So, with this information, what should we do?" He continues.

Daichi returns to his mute form once more, and Kenma, who's not used to being the to struggle to support a conversation [usually he's the quiet one], doesn't know what to say, so for a minute or so, the two remain in quiet. That is, until Daichi converses in a slow pace: "We take this to the police."

Kenma shakes his head to himself, as he retaliates calmly, which contrasts his pounding heart and gunned adrenaline. He's excited. He's feeling the sensation he'd usually experience whenever he receives a new video game. Because if their unsaid theory that both of them most likely conjured is real, _that means they could've revealed something that could find Kageyama and Oikawa_. "We can't do that. In all these cases, Daniel was released from charges." He explains. " And it's not like they could enter Daniel's household without a warrant. That's against the law. The police can only enter on strong suspicion or with solid evidence, and these articles don't target Daniel specifically; all I did was search up the names of the few schools he attended at, and they were popularized and shown because of these incidents. These are way too vague and while it's a coincidence that everywhere Daniel goes, kids disappear, that's all it is. A coincidence." Kenma reluctantly states.

"So we can't use these?"

"No. Well, we can, it's just that they'll be useless." Kenma concludes. "We can't conduct a search based upon loosely-related evidence, even though it makes sense. And I...I didn't like him, anyways. So I'm not trying to make excuses." He admits. "But what are we going to tell the police, 'we just had a bad feeling about him so we think he was capable to kidnap a bunch of kids?'"

"You know. That's the most I've heard you say in one sentence." The voice crackles. Kenma inwardly scowls. _Didn't I just say a longer sentence earlier?_ However, he's uplifted by Daichi's voice. His tone has become considerably animated, and clearly he's also finding this quite stimulating. Kenma, being ather reticent, isn't used to revealing his emotions as such. But right now, it's gotten to the point where he cannot prevent his voice from rising into an intense volume.

His fingers are trembling as he drums them against his mouse, and he can feel trepidation as well, despite the exhilaration that spawned from relief and the excitement. "If that's the case..." Daichi begins. "We have to take this into our own hands." _How cliché_ , Kenma grunts in response. He would've just nodded, but he knows by now that people cannot see his gestures through a phone, obviously. Therefore, Kenma had regretablly switched to making unintelligent noises for acknowledgement. "But...like you said. These could be coincidences. We can't be sure about Daniel actually being..." Daichi's voice trails off, his anticipation and dread that coated his voice thickening as his volume shakes. Of course. Daichi's been working with this guy for a week or around that. Of course he'd feel shocked, startled, or disgusted. "Now. Normally I'm the one who stops idiots from conducting illegal activities..." Daichi respires sharply. "But how do you feel about breaking into a house tonight?"

Kenma feels his eyebrows fly upwards in surprise. "First of all, I'm leaving for three days," He begins. "My parents and I are visiting some old friends in Korea, where unfortunately, I have no data or internet connection except in certain households," he explains, and shudders. A horrifying nightmare, where he's placed in hell for three days. He simpers. "Second of all, breaking into a house doesn't guarantee evidence, but it does guarantee huge problems if we get caught-no, if _you_ get caught...and thirdly, no. Besides, he works in the morning he'll be home at night."

"We can't just not do nothing!" A seething tone responds. Typical in this situation to get irritated, Kenma presumes.

"I suggest you confront him."

"Excuse me?"

"Bring a phone. Be sure that as you confront him, you've already called someone, so that person can hear every word you and him say. And ask the person on the other line to record the call, as well. We need evidence first of all, and we need to get it without breaking any laws with unjustifiable actions." Kenma suggests. "Daniel's too smart to hope you'd back down if you sound confident enough, I assume." Kenma actually isn't sure about that, in complete honesty. He's somewhat making this up as he goes. "So, he'd probably try something. If that happens, the person you called will at least know you're in trouble and can send help."

"Okay-"

"And forget everything I said, because that's all bull and we know it." Kenma normally avoids any sort of words that could lead up to swears, but at the moment, he needs to drill it into Daichi's head. Daichi's the leader, he probably feels guilty about the idea of not doing anything as his friends are in trouble. And if Kenma's correct, he believes that Daichi also happens to have a fatherly instinct to watch the others, as they're all idiots incapable of caring for themselves [with few exceptions]. Ergo, he needs to convince to Daichi to not do anything stupid. "If I were you, I'd discuss it with the others...look...I don't know." Kenma finally admits, giving into his insecure thoughts.

This entire discussion is flimsy, after all. "The thing is...this is completely different from anything we're used to." _At least in volleyball, we have more and more, almost endless chances to restart in hopes of receiving a better ending. Now, we're playing with realities with our lives as the game pieces._ "We shouldn't get ourselves involved without proof so that we can get help. If Daniel really did what we think he did-" Kenma realizes he unconsciously avoided saying 'kidnapped', and his stomach knots. "He can hurt us as well. _So don't do anything stupid."_

* * *

Daichi does something stupid.

He's aware that what he's doing is inevitably dangerous and concerns his safety, but Daichi feels a sense of dread. Such as, if he doesn't do anything, something bad will happen. But, what he was going to do is relatively innocent; he will just stroll past Daniel's house, and that's all. Nothing harmful, just checking. Sure, it's nothing _big_ , but walking down the street will probably unconsciously lessen his guilt.

However, as he walks on the sidewalk just outside of Daniel's house, he walks straight into the devil himself. Such an inconvenient ordeal. "Oh, hello, Daichi-kun!" Daniel waves animatedly. At this, Daichi stiffens, and inwardly sighs. Troublesome. However, he greets the man back with a mirroring attitude. "I didn't know you lived around here." He remarks. At this, Daichi is able to detect an accusatory tone, but then, he quickly curses himself. Stupid. He's beginning to be as paranoid as Sugawara.

However, some strange emotion had been concocted in his stomach. Anger. Fear. And detest. This man possibly could've taken Kageyama away from him, _away from them_. As Daichi stares at the man, he finds himself seeing the man from a completely different angle. No longer does his kindness please Daichi; rather, is arouses his suspicion, and his fear stimulates as well, awaken from the back of his brain.

He wants nothing more than to strangle this man. Daichi's aware that he has a sadistic streak in one way or another, however, he's not particularly tempermental despite his violent antics. This is probably the first true time Daichi had ever experienced such a sensation, and he tightens his grip as he shoves his fists into his pockets.

"I don't live around here," Daichi shakes his head, and winces at the tremor of his voice. He gnashes his teeth together in attempt to stop himself from screaming at the man in front of him. It's like earlier he was staring at the reflection in a foggy mirror; now, he's able to see the clear view, a totally different perspective on this man. His indifferent personality, earlier, Daichi had mistaken for tranquility.

So many things did Daichi miss.

"Oh, so you're just jogging?" The man inquires with a polite tone. "At this time of the day?"

Daichi emits a breathy laugh. "Yeah...just...exploring this part of town, I guess." He responds feebly. "Oh..." He pauses, ready to ask something, but then stops. Would this be considered particularly rude? "Do you have a partner?" He asks curiously. Daichi's recalls when Sugawara and him ran by Daniel the first time here, with bags of groceries. But then again, didn't Daniel responded with an answer, something about how he hates shopping thus he buys copious amounts of food? Then as if his mind loves to retaliate against itself, Daichi also remembers how Sugawara had pointed out later, that Daniel had confided to their team that he hates to cook, so he always buy takeout. And of course, such an equation is quite odd with all these variables.

"A lady? No." The man scoffs, shaking his head. "I don't have time for a girl." He sighs. At this, Daichi conjures another conclusion. _And besides, Sugawara said that he didn't have a girlfriend, anyways. What a stupid question to ask._ However, Daichi muses. Perhaps Daniel goes to places that normally, one would like to keep their visit quiet about. A bar, maybe? Somewhere where women would definitely lounge about. However, not wanting to make it seem as though he's prying, Diachi waves off his concern, all the while trying to calm his raw anger, concealing it.

He doesn't want to expose such a temper on Daniel.

 _Like what Kenma said, it could just be a coincidence. And don't do anything stupid, either. After all, Daniel could just be unlucky with all those coincidences, and you shouldn't do stupid things. That's Tanaka and Nishinoya's job. You shouldn't do anything reckless alone._

And if he seriously is dangerous...

Daichi eyes the man warily, and before he can stop his mouth from running, he already says: "Are you sure you don't have anything on Kageyama?" Normally, there's a filter near his mouth, where it prevents stupid things from leaving his lips. Well, it must've faltered. He freezes, and in unison, Daniel stops, his hackles bristling. "I mean...out of curiosity." He exclaims assuringly with a latent attitude that he never reveals to his friends.

"Daichi...actually, I do know some things, but I wasn't sure of them. Do you want to come in and we'll discuss over a drink of your choice?" Daichi stops. Perhaps...

Yes, he's just being extraordinarily cruel and rude to Daniel, for assuming things about him. All those things Kenma said, were just coincidences. And Daniel's ready to confide things to him. He should take this chance. "Yeah, sure. Thank you, Daniel-senpai" He nods, before entering the warm household. "Lemme just tell my mom that I'll be home later than expected-" He didn't miss the strained smile that Daniel sends to him.

Quickly, his finger hovers over his mother's contact identification as he turns on his phone, but instead, he swipes down, and finds Kenma's number that he plugged in earlier after transferring it from Sugawara's phone. 'Don't ask why, but I'm invited into Daniel's house', he texts, and sends the message. Rather thankful for autocorrect for adding in all the apostrophes, Daichi looks up and smiles at Daniel.

* * *

Daniel doesn't know what's off with Daichi. What's he doing wrong? He's aware of Sugawara's sudden intensiveness on him. And now, Daichi, the one that Daniel thought was too kind and oblivious in one sense to even consider suspecting him? But now, here he is, just 'casually' strolling down his street at night, and suddenly spouting suspicious questions that two other people already asked. What's this about a girlfriend? He doesn't imply any sort of clue that he actually has a woman.

What's he been doing wrong? Sure, he always hit curbs and obstacles where he has to skirt and maneuver around, but for this to happen, for a simple handful of kids to suddenly act in such a suspicious manner, Daniel supposes he has to do something. Of course, there's that little, withering sample of consciousness that he seldom listens to, hissing, _"If you do try to get rid of him, that'll bring even more suspicion."_

However, it's too late.

Daniel cannot help but muse over the thought of Daichi knowing his secret.

 _No, stop panicking. He doesn't know._

* * *

Daichi supposes he shouldn't be doing this. He seriously shouldn't. His heart is erratically pounding, and voices begin to scorn him, nipping at him with harsh words that disagrees with his plan. He had told Daniel that he would like to use the restroom, and easily, Daniel had give him simple directions.

But Daichi couldn't help it. Normally, he would just simply ignore the door. But because of his suspicions, because of everything that's been going on lately, Daichi has decided that there's no possible way that this could get worse. And so, he took a right down the hallway instead of a left, towards the poorly hidden door.

It's not necessarily obscured; it's just that it sinks into the wall, camouflaged against it, as there's no frame or door knob. It's meant so that if anyone passes by it, it's not necessarily noticeable. Slowly, he picks at the thin edges, the slits that outline the door that's camouflaged against the wall.

Really, Daichi supposes some houses have this, possibly to store electronic wiring behind it. But then again, most doors like these probably don't emit a teal glow from behind the door. He pushes the smallish door, and fluidly, it swings open without a creak. He pauses. The most it should take him to use the bathroom is probably three minutes, if not less. Meaning, he has around three minutes to snoop. He inwardly sighs. He shouldn't be prodding around in a house of his coach. He shouldn't believe that Daniel is capable of seriously kidnapping Kageyama, and possibly concerning Oikawa's disappearance as well.

But he does anyways.

His entire body shuddering, he prepares himself as he ducks and heads through the small door, while swinging it shut behind him.

 _"Holy shit."_ The first thing that he notices, his the strange, disgusting smell of decaying meat. His nose wrinkles at the pungent odor. He also finds the source of the teal light he saw from outside the door. It's glowing from the screen of a device.

The device is a medium monitor, connected to a keyboard, that sits on a lonely desk. However, he's able to see everything without complication.

His heart whines, and a strangled noise escapes his closed lips, as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

Because there, on the screen, are various boxes of video footages of probably the security cameras wired throughout the house, he's able to see Oikawa and Kageyama, on multiple of the said panels.

His lips suddenly lack moisture, as color drains from his ashen visage.

"Fuck." Daichi quickly gathers himself up. _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ His fingers trembling, he doesn't know what he's doing. That is, until he recalls his serious, previous conversation with Kenma. He snaps a picture of the screen, along with multiple photos of the dimmed room he's sitting in himself. _He really did take Kageyama and Oikawa._

That's when, through the lenses of his camera as he swivels it around the room, is he able to see the glassy eyes, reflected by the light of his phone.

He nearly screams, but stifles it instead, as he wheezes. The odorous stench that wafts throughout the room is suddenly explained, as he approaches another metal desk, where a single head is placed. The rest of this woman's body is nowhere to be seen, and Daichi's passionate hostility towards the man quickly evolves into utter disgust and horror. _This is a real head, of a human being._

The woman's mouth is agape. No. Not a woman; _a young girl._ A girl who Diachi could probably suspect around his age or perhaps slightly older. Bile washes over his taste buds, and he dryly swallows the sensation of wanting to regurgitate. Trepidation flows through him, but quickly, he also takes a picture of the decapitated head. Missing kids, Daichi connects what he's seeing, along with the information he has.

Despite the room being fairly cool in temperature, sweat beads at his palms, and causes his shirt to cling onto his figure.

 _Okay, time to leave-_

He begins to head out of the door, but is quickly stopped by the swing of a knife. He squawks.

It was years of exercising and volleyball that saveds his life, as the knife punctures the wall of the door, instead of his neck. "Oh. I didn't hit you." Daniel blinks, looking rather alarmed by this small fact, as he grips the hilt and yanks the knife out of the wall. _The knife was inches away from his neck._

 _Oh my God._

 _He just tried to stab me._

 _Shit shit shit-_

Daichi gapes, as he leaps away. "Ah shit. Killing you would be rather troublesome." Daniel scowls, anger crossing his normally impassive expression. Not anger. Just irritation. Because Daichi's just another bug, another layer of scum that Daniel has to get through to retain his silence. He's nothing to Daniel other than an obstacle.

 _And he nearly stabbed you with a knife? Were you not paying attention at all, Daichi?_ His inner voice screams at him. He would like to just shove Daniel aside and run off, but Daniel's fit for his age. [Well, he does work as a sub coach for his team], and Daichi is hesitating, as he doubts his strenght against Daniel. So, instead, he leaps back into the room, with Daniel following him.

Daichi's panicking, and honestly, his fear has risen. After all, this is rather morbid. His own coach has kidnapped two kids, and has taken them, and now, he's trying to murder him.

Fuck.

* * *

"I'm not eating this." Kageyama states, deadpanned, turning to Oikawa, who sticks his tongue out in offense. "Seriously." He adds. He may not care a lot about what he eats no longer, but he refuses to eat obviously inedible meals. "This is supposed to be a simple rice recipe. How did you manage to make rice hard?" He's unable to separate the grains of rice. It's practically just a white rock now, considering how it's a lump of rce charred together with toppings mushed on top of it. "Rice isn't supposed to be black, either. How did you burn rice to this extent where it's legitimately darker than the color of charcoal? And all within ten minutes, as well? How do you screw up using a rice cooker so bad? And how did you even set the cooker on fire, in the first place?"

"Oi, shut up! Be glad that I'm even bothering cooking for you!"

Something unsettling sits in Kageyama's stomach. They should've waited for Daniel to get home to eat; he would get mad otherwise. And thankfully, Oikawa isn't stupid enough to try and anger Daniel purposely. But Daniel hasn't returned, and it's been probably half an hour, and Oikawa had begged Kageyama to try his cooking.

But it's not the possibility of being punished, that scares Kageyama.

It's the sensation of arguing with Oikawa.

If a certain orange-haired dumbass had burned the rice as badly [seriously, this is humanely impossible for someone who supposedly is 'smart', to inflict], then Kageyama wouldn't be as tame as now. Or would he? Kageyama's bilious feeling deepens. If he ever does return, and if possible, his friends actually would want him back after knowing the condition he's in, would he and Hinata's arguimg remain constant as now? He discretely enjoyed arguing and shouting at Hinata, who seems to be seemingly conscious that Kageyama is rather fond of their bickering.

Would he remain the same? Would he still get mad at Hinata?

Honestly, Kageyama is scared. If he shouts at Hinata, would Hinata see him as nothing more than scum, which he definitely is? _Wow, when did my self-esteem sink so low?_

"You know, I think I hate it." Kageyama blinks, and quickly rounds to Oikawa. He tries to pay attention to Oikawa whenever he talks. It's like another reality whenever he hangs around Oikawa. For some odd reason, Kageyama feels safe whenever he's acknowledged by the brunette. But then again, is that not a surprise if one considers Oikawa's ability? To bring the best out of everyone? If that's the case, then of course he would psychologically affect Kageyama in a way. He's the only one that Kageyama can relate to. "I hate it when we argue. It makes me nostalgic."

Kageyama blinks, taken back by the seriousness in Oikawa's timbre.

"Me and Iwa-chan used to argue

"Oikawa. It should be Iwa-chan and I."

"Shut up, you meanie."

Kageyama, once again, ignores Oikawa's weak attempt of retaliation, and instead, focuses on the name _'Iwa-chan'. Iwa-chan? Right, Iwaizumi Hajine; the one with the spiky hair_. Kageyama is able to easily recall Iwaizumi back when he attended middle school. He was a decently kind, if not gruff, boy. "He would probably stop me from ruining rice before it happens." He dramatically sniffs. _Great, he's not done whining._ "He would probably hit me on the head right now, and start shouting at me. Then he would clean up the dishes and remake the rice. He's so mean, but he's really too nice."

Then, Oikawa's hooded eyes slide over to him, and Kageyama feels violated and somewhat creeped out, as Oikawa inspects at him with a scrutinizing glare. "Don't tell anyone...but I'm afraid for Iwa-chan. One day, someone will take advantage of his kindness without considering his feelings."

"Isn't that what you do?"

Instead of receiving a flip of a middle finger or an childish rant, Oikawa just stares at him. "Yeah. I don't really deserve Iwa-chan."

At this, Kageyama isn't sure what to say. Does Oikawa have some sort of insecurity about his friendship with Iwaizumi? Kageyama frowns at this. He would never think that Oikawa would feel a certain way towards Iwaizumi as such. He always thought that Oikawa and Iwaizumi had a sturdy friendship. "Me and Hinata..."

"It's 'Hinata and I', Tobio-chan."

Kageyama promptly ignores this. _Long time ago, I would've glowered at him._ _If Hinata said this, I'd probably shout at him. Now..._

"I like to argue with Hinata as well." He confides. And that's all he'll say. Feeling the tension thickly coating them, he walks away from the dinner table, after chucking his rice-rock into the trashcan. He walks to the television, as well as touching the volleyball that remains listless on the couch.

Over the days, Oikawa and Kageyama toyed with the idea of playing with the volleyball together, disregarding how technically they're both setters. And while they sort of knew this would happen, they came to realize they had no space to actually play ball, as Oikawa had slammed the ball into a lamp.

When Daniel found out they broke a lamp, he had expounded to the two, that he forgave them, but he was thoroughly pissed. If anything, Kageyama thought that Daniel would've hit them at least once.

"Do you want to read?" Kageyama picks on the book about volleyball plays from years ago. He hates reading. Oikawa shakes his head.

"Wanna watch television, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa snorts. Obviously, they won't see anything, but the two sometimes just turn on the television, and though very rarely, Kageyama himself will sardonically play with items, as they tauntingly pretended that they were normal.

And so, Kageyama was not expecting screams to emit from the speaker of the old-fashioned television, and certainly, he didn't expect to see footage of Daichi scrabbling away to approach.

Kageyama's unable to move, his eyes frozen, and Oikawa himself, slowly sits down on the seat next to him, his eyes dilated as they fixate on the television screen. "Daichi-" Kageyama wheezes, as the said man appears on some of the various panels that show on the screen of different camera videos, trying to escape the grasp of Daniel, who clings onto the man, brandishing a knife dangerously.

"Oh no. He's not going to-" Oikawa stops, his voice halting and squelching into a squeak, as the blade fluidly enters the nape of Daichi's neck, and blood spurts out both ends where the knife had punctured.

Kageyama knows that such a wound will most definitely kill the host.

He really did like Daichi. Daichi was a kind, firm, soul, an anchor to make sure that the team doesn't drift away in any sort of direction. He's a man of many things. But he's certainly not one of the living, he decides, as the body crumples in a heap, near the front door's entrance, a crimson fluid dying his white shirt scarlet. _"Daichi-san!"_ He screeches, jackknifing upright, screaming and shouting.

He begins to screech incoherent words, words that do not make sense as they run through his brain. "Tobio-chan, sit!"

 _"Daichi!"_

 _"Stop it!"_

Kageyama turns to Oikawa, who's face became paler than usual, his panting labored. Kageyama begins to tremble. "He killed him! _He killed Daichi!" Why do you sound so surprised? You already know that Daniel is capable of murdering._ But Kageyama continues to screech, while simultaneously yanking at Oikawa's hand that's gripping his wrist tightly.

 _"Why was Daichi even here?"_

"Tobio-chan you're panicking, just sit-"

"I'm going to kill him." He breathes. Just minutes earlier, Kageyama wouldn't even consider such a thing.

But now, perhaps, if he kills Daniel, it'd prevent anyone else dying.

And besides: _J_ _ustified Revenge._

And Kageyama, honestly, never had murderous intentions. But now, he wants nothing more than _fracture, snap, everyone single one of the man's bones as he wrings his neck, casting him into unconsciousness only to be brought back into reality by his torturous methods-_

"Tobio-chan. Stop it." Oikawa hisses, interrupting Kageyama's trainwreck of thoughts. "Don't." His voice breaks. "If we get mad at Daniel, he'll kill us first." His normally confidence, egotistical voice judged by its volume and attitude, is now nothing more than a low, shaking tone. "He's stronger than us. And your arm is broken-"

"It's healing."

"Tobio!" No suffix. Kageyama believes that indicates he's feeling strong emotions of negativity. "He won't kill us. _Rather, he'll hit us, he'll hurt us, he'll do horrible things, much worse than what Daichi-san just went through_." He murmurs. "Please. Just sit." And so Kageyama does.

Five minutes later: the two sit on the couch, staring at the television screen as it shows Daniel dragging the body away, leaving a dark smear of blood wherever the body comes in contact with. Kageyama thinks how long it'll take before the boy's drained of blood.

Five seconds later: Kageyama finds himself hugging the taller male, tears escaping his eyes, sopping the nice shirt of the said boy's, as he burrows his head into the boy's shoulder. He doesn't care about the tears that silently soak into the back of his shirt, as Oikawa nuzzles him in return, hiccuping and sobbing as well.

Five milliseconds later: Daniel enters, and finding the two curled on the couch, both desperately trying to dry their tears.

Kageyama unconsciously clings onto Oikawa's sleeve of his shirt, as they nod numbly, when Daniel pieces things together, as he notes the swollen eyes, wet patches on their shirts, the quietness of the two, and the running television, and says: "You know, I did it for your own good, right?"

"Yes. You did it for us." They recite dully.

* * *

[Bonus]

 _Brokuto_ : EMERGANC, GUYSSSSSSsssssS

 _Suga_ : What's wrong?

 _Ennoshita_ : guys seriously who keeps telling Tanaka my phone password? he keeps on talking through my group chats with my number

 _TERUSHIMA_ : WAIT WATS THE EMERGENCY

 _Brokuto_ : Akaashe si tryin to killl me! :(((((((

 _Brokuroo_ : dat happens everyday tho.

 _Brokuto_ : BRoOOOOO Ur USRNAME!111!^^^^^

 _Suga_ : wait but why is Akaashi trying to kill you right now?

 _Pretty face_Pretty ace_ : because he changed my username.

 _Brokuroo_ : HahHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHH

 _Ennoshita_ : i admire how you r able to follow along in this convo but still try and brutally murder bokuto at the same time

 _Brokuroo_ : RuN BO! RUNNNNNNNNNN DONT DIE ON MEH BRUH

 _Iwaizumi_ : I swear to god I'll delete this group chat. And Kuroo, where's Kenma? Usually by now he puts in some sort of sarcastic remark.

 _Brokuroo_ : in korea.

 _TERUSHIMA_ : WAIT DID YOU SEND KENMA TO KOREA?/?/

 _Brokuroo_ : nah. Just visiting or somting. i mean. He doesnt hae wifi or data cuz hes in another country rn.

 _Iwaizumi_ : Whoa did Kuroo just use correct punctiation?

 _Suga_ : Akaashi-san, plesae consider the cons of killing Bokuto.

 _Ennoshita_ : oh rite. I kinda forgot that Bokuto is currently in mortal dangr at the moment.

 _Pretty face_Pretty ace_ : oh. Right. Without Bokuto I don't get free food.

 _Brokuto_ : EehhhhHHHHHHHHHH?!11111 XCUZE ME?


	11. Chapter 11

"When we were younger, Iwa-chan forced me to shut up by shoving a beetle into my mouth." Kageyama just wrinkles his nose, but doesn't say anything by Iwaizumi's tact. Most likely, Kageyama's silently pitying the boy for dealing with a rambling Oikawa, such as the situation he is in right now. Currently, Oikawa is regaling Kageyama with some of his childhood memories, all including Iwaizumi, in hopes of forgetting the previous day.

Kageyama surprisingly got over Daichi's death rather easily. Along with no side-effects. He doesn't just stop talking [he's just quiet in general whenever the topic doesn't interest him], nor does he seclude and isolate himself from human connection. He remains robotic with Daniel as usual, and somewhat human [Oikawa swears that this boy's IQ is just not scientifically possible for the human species; must be an alien] around Oikawa himself. "Oh, and this one day, Iwa-chan-"

"I once couldn't get Hinata to shut up so I set a volleyball into his face."

"Ah! Iwa-chan once did that to me with a chair!"

* * *

Oikawa just titters at Kageyama. Seriously. Oikawa was not born to be a caretaker. He's used to the one being spoiled. And yet, here he is, bandaging Kageyama's slowly healing wounds. "And seriously, without professional help I don't know what'll happen to your arm-" Oikawa mutters, flicking Kageyama on the forehead. "Geez seriously we're going to need more peroxide." He emphasizes his point by shaking the bottle beside him, the little amount of medicine remaining in it sloshing about. "And more bandages." The roll of the white cloth is slowly dwindling down to nothing.

"Well, at least you don't seem to have a concussion. And your eye is healing quite nicely as well!" Oikawa chirps. "Yeah. I mean. Sure half of your face is bruised, but hey, thankfully you weren't that beautiful in the first place- _wait Kageyama come back!"_

* * *

Disgruntled, Sugawara turns to the rest of his team. "Ooh, Daichi, maybe he's becoming a rebellious teenager-" Nishinoya waggles his eyebrows playfully.

"You're more likely to do that." Retaliates the tall blonde, who doesn't even bother to round to Nishinoya as he expounds that. "So he hasn't answered his phone?" He pointedly ignores the small one's shrieking.

Sugawara emits a frustrated growl. "And nobody else has seen him. I'll punch him later. Leaving me with all of you-" He ends with a sickly sweet tone, turning to the rest of them with a beaming grin that contradicts his darkened aura. Sugawara seriously isn't sure how he's going to deal with ten immature dorks at the moment. The only one he can remotely consider as not troublesome is probably Yamaguchi. He would also acknowledge Tsukishima as well; if not for the boy's sardonic sense of humor and sadistic mind.

Then he pauses.

He had automatically thought of ten other teammates excluding himself and Daichi.

 _Really, it's nine._ His stomach plummets at the thought, but he remains smiling. "Okay, pair up!" He claps his hands together, and watches as Hinata remains lost once more. Without Kageyama around, Hinata, for the past week, has been loss of a partner, and honestly doesn't seem enthusiastic of finding another. Usually, Sugawara has to switch teammates around to help with Hinata, or ask Ennoshita or such to partner up. Hinata always seemingly reluctantly follows along. Sugawara determines that he'll pair up with Hinata today, again.

But first-

Jogging up to Daniel, he sighs, before stoically remarking: "Daichi is absent today."

"Oh?" The man asked with a calculating sense of concern, his eyes peering over his flashing spectacles. Sugawara inwardly groans at this. He really doesn't have the motivation or energy to act as though he enjoys Daniel's presence. "Do you know the reason why?" It sounds almost accusatory. _Hahaha does it look like I know? What am I? His freaking caretaker?_ Sugawara inwardly cringes at his rather vehement timbre he used in his head.

"Oh, I'm not sure." Then, Sugawara frowns, and wonders if he should share his worries. Well, it's not like anything worse could happen. "He hasn't been picking up any calls or whatever. Maybe he's sick." _The only reason for him to not pick up while sick is if he's in bed, or in the hospital._ His motherly aspect of concern in his brain begins to signal alarms.

"Sick?"

"Yeah. Probably."

* * *

"Would you be meme?"

"Stop." Iwaizumi turns to Matsukawa, who in response, just beams innocently. "Get back to work." He scowls at the two troublemakers, who are engaged in a conversation.

"I mean. I dunno. Look. Matsukawa is in the middle of confessing, ya know." Hanamaki turns to Iwaizumi pointedly, along with a glare, as if to say, 'don't interrupt this touching moment'.

Iwaizumi just stares at the two. Not flabbergasted. Not the slightest bit put off. His emotions read blank on his face. That is, until Hanamaki slowly notices the way Iwaizumi's fingers have knotted, the veins popping out. He's clenching the volleyball in his grip so hard; Hanamki would not be surprised if it combusted. Slowly, Hanamaki backs away from Matsukawa in hopes of avoiding an early death. The said boy even has the skills to seem heartbroken by his clear rejection as Hanamaki's ready to _fucking run_ -

"You know." Iwaizumi begins, his voice oddly stiff and high, as if he's preventing it from releasing into a shout. "I don't deserve this." He continues, and a crazed grin crosses his countenance. _"I don't deserve all of this-"_ Everyone's staring, and Yahaba in the distance, his expression doesn't match the startled ones of his teammates, rather, he just looks on with clear pity for Iwaizumi. _"I've been a good person, all my life-"_ Hanamaki flinches, and Matsukawa even runs to his friend, cowing behind his back. _Traitor. Using_ me _as a meatshield out of all people here._ "I try _SO HARD TO NOT KILL A PERSON-"_ Hanamaki stumbles back as Iwaizumi advances, and he nearly trips over Matsukawa who he had momentarily forgotten was hiding behind him. _"AND INSTEAD I'M PAIRED WITH HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE PEOPLE WHEN I'VE BEEN A GOOD PERSON ALL MY LIFE-"_

Then, Iwaizumi's outburst fades as quickly as it had come. No. Not fade; just utterly stops. Hanamaki's grateful for whatever has answered his prayers on not wanting to die today. Quickly, untangling himself from Matsukawa who he had fallen on out of desperation to escape Iwaizumi's wrath, Hanamki staggers onto his two feet, before addressing Iwaizumi, probably with another meme.

That is, until he sees the strange, oddly gut-wrenching expression Iwaizumi's wearing. And by 'gut-wrenching', it doesn't cause Hanamaki's stomach to twist in fear, and if it did, it's not from Iwaizumi. "Nevermind." Iwaizumi whispers, angling his head, his voice eerily quiet. Hanamaki flinches as Iwaizumi dribbles the volleyball he's still holding, the _smack_ of his actions ricocheting in the mute gym. Then, as if he didn't justlook as though he was about to commit murder, the boy begins to serve his volleyball.

 _Horrible people. The worst, childish, most impudent person Iwaizumi ever had to take care of was his best friend. And that friend is currently-_ Hanamaki blanches.

It's as if his whole team was avoiding the absence of their captain. And of course, Iwaizumi, not only because he's his best friend who does absolutely everything with him, would be constantly reminded as he's practically the team temporary captain as he's the only other third-year that holds respect among others [Hanamaki finds this unfortunately true. Honestly, his royal dank meme-ass should be liked among everyone-]. They had held off holding the idea of replacing Oikawa's position on team.

They couldn't do it. And thankfully, their coach seemingly understands this.

"Hey!" Hanamaki cringes, startled by Matsukawa who had stood up, and now screeching. "Everyone, get back to work! Whoever's caught slacking off will be punished by being forced to kiss Hanamaki's ass!" The audience who witnessed their near-death experience slowly begin to play volleyball once more.

 _"Okay first of all, bitch, you_ WISH _you could kiss this ass_ -" He rounds to his friend, his eyes aglow as he bristles at Matsukawa's indirect insult.

* * *

"I think I want to bake a cake." Kageyama calmly asserts, at the same time Oikawa exuberantly said while watching Kageyama cook:

"Iwaizumi punched me!" Blinking, Oikawa turns to the boy with sapphire eyes, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I want to bake a strawberry cake."

"I..."

"Yes."

"Okay then?" Oikawa peers at Kageyama, who has never requested to do such a thing before. Kageyama just turns to him, his expression unreadable and simply neutral as usual. "I...sure. You go bake a strawberry cake then." He clasps his hands together. It's clear that Kageyama has the experience to do it, even without a recipe in front of him. After all, Kageyama has proven to have extreme skill whenever it came to memorization, and Oikawa can only assume that he has already stored the recipe already in the back of his mind.

Oikawa has requested and done weird things in the past, he shouldn't judge Kageyama. But honestly; Daniel is definitely aware of his weird habit of smearing lipstick onto the man's shirt collars, considering how he has video cameras perched all over the place. But he hasn't mentioned a word about it. Oikawa suspects the man finds it endearing. He shudders. _Funny story. When I was younger, I decided to do the same thing with all of Iwaizumi's shirts. He punched me once he found out when Naomi-san from fifth grade asked him about it._ "Why do you want to bake a cake exactly?"

"To show Daniel our appreciation for killing Daichi-san. He clearly did it for us." Oikawa stares at Kageyama. He doesn't place Kageyama has delusional. He really doesn't. After all, the boy would definitely not forgive Daniel for doing such a horrendous thing. Because Oikawa knows that Kageyama actually respects Daichi-san. After joining Karasuno, Kageyama's character has developed in various ways. Karasuno was probably Kageyama's first group of friends he's ever had. Someone as defensive and surprisingly loyal as Kageyama would definitely not praise or even consider rewarding Daniel with a cake.

But then again, there are cameras all over. This is probably for show, an act that Kageyama put up to draw away suspicion. Daniel probably already suspects he broken Kageyama, so it wouldn't be odd for Kageyama to say this. Oikawa determines that Kageyama's just bluffing. _But why would he make a cake?_

"Yeah. I guess...Daniel really did do it for us. We should show our gratitude for doing something like that for us." Oikawa, used to manipulating people's thoughts and beliefs with just a few slips of his tongue and a couple various words, fluidly lies. Acting hesitant, reluctant and even being sure to lace a timbre of impress, he's sure he pulled off the lie correctly.

But doubt has already cracked into him. Only Iwa-chan can see the true him, he's sure. But at the moment, he wonders if Daniel, with his precise logic and immense intensity; can force his way into Oikawa's heart and character by prying him open little-by-little. As if he could see through Oikawa's perfectly concocted lie.

Oikawa tries to diminish those thoughts, as he replaces them with theories. _Kageyama could definitely not slip in poison without Daniel knowing. And poison wouldn't do anything anyways. We need Daniel alive._ And that's all. Oikawa cannot find another reason why. "We don't have any whipped cream, though. We always need whipped cream whenever it comes to strawberry cake!"

"My strawberry shortcakes require no whipped cream. And I'll just ask Daniel for some more ingredients."

"Tobio-chan!"

"Fine!" He grunts, rolling his eyes so far, for a moment Oikawa wonders if he could cause a seizure. "Geez. You sound like Hinata." Oikawa perks up. "He'd always beg for food and stuff." He explains himself. He's finally talking about Chibi-san. "That dumbass would always force me to buy extra meatbuns for him if we visit the store alone-"

"Why'd you visit each it alone?" Being nosy as usual, Oikawa wants to hear more about Kageyama. _If I thought this one month ago, I'd probably think I was full of shit. So basically I'd be looking at myself from Iwa-chan's perspective._ Oikawa feels like an older brother, wanting to know how their younger one is doing. _Ew._

"Sometimes we invite each other after school and help each other study with Ennoshita." He explains nonchalantly.

"Ah, Tobio-chan, _you actually have real friends to invite over after school!"_ He almost expects a spatula to go flying in his direction. Then, his heartbeat falters, and perhaps wither slightly, as Kageyama just scoffs in his direction. Right. Throwing things. Only Iwaizumi was comfortable enough to do such a thing.

 _Hey. Iwa-chan, maybe we're just that close, that you can hear my mind right now._ No response. _I missed you._ _I really do._ Oikawa forces his tears back where they belong.

Silence fills his head.

* * *

Kenma doesn't have his electronic devices after having them confiscated by his parents for playing them during a meeting.

Which is stupid, considering that Kenma was wearing headphones, and also, he was considerably mute and not disruptive throughout the entire meeting. Apparently, ignoring everyone was, 'rude', even though Kenma would've done it without his PSP. But at the same time, he doesn't really want to sleep during the meeting, either.

So now he's unwillingly sitting outside.

He watches as a creature flutters next to him. He hisses, batting away the butterfly.

Ew. Nature.

 _I want to go home._

* * *

Sugawara blanches, choking on his gulp of water, as he hears the news reporter on television, clearly states: _'a body has been found abandoned near the construction sight. The body has been identified as Suwamura Diachi-"_

* * *

[Bonus]

 _Brokuto:_ HEY heEY HEY!1! GUESS WHST!

 _Akaashi:_ What is it, Bokuto?

 _Brokuroo:_ i see tat the pretty ace has changed his user back, hmmmm?/?

 _Akaashi:_ Kuroo please stop.

 _Brokuto:_ i GOT A HUNDRED ON MY TESSTTT

 _Akaashi:_ I see you didn't fail your test this time, Bokuto-san.

 _Brokuto:_ akaSSSHIIIIIIIIIIII U SAID YOUD STOP BRINING TAHT UP

 _Suga:_ hey has any of you guys seen the news?

 _Terushima:_ peole watch the news these days?

 _Ushijima:_ ^ why are you still here

 _Iwaizumi:_ wait Ushijima youve been here this entire time? What?

 _Ennoshita:_ wait but Suga wat about the news?

 _Asahi:_ now that we pointed out Ushijima was here the wolh time tis has compeled me to beleive that you forgot I was here as well.

 _Brokuroo:_ ^oh hye ur alive.

 _Konoha:_ i hope you know that all of the 3rd yrs of Fukurodani is here

 _Brokuto:_ WAIT U GUYS R IN ON THIS?

 _Akaashi:_ Bokuto you were the ones who added them.

 _Brokuto added_ Meme_King _and_ Nice_Ass _to Group Chat_

Meme_King _changed Group Chat to_ Kickass Sass Squad

 _Iwaizumi:_ why would you do this.

 _Meme_King:_ hey Mom

 _Nice_Ass:_ Mom r u proud of us?

 _Suga:_ excuse me but who are you?

 _Nice_Ass:_ im Hanamaki. btw, unlike whatever shitface tells you, i have a nive asss kay

 _Meme_King_ : i stole hanamaki's old user. hello.

 _Nice_Ass:_ its me

 _Meme_King:_ Matsukawa

 _Nice_Ass:_ i've been wondering after all these years youd like 2 meet

 _Meme_King:_ to goover, everthing

 _Nice_Ass:_ liKE TODAY WHN U INSULTED MY ASS

 _Iwaizumi:_ why hasn't anyone stopped them.

 _Meme_King:_ mom.

 _Suga:_ yes

 _Meme_King:_ other mom?

 _Iwaizumi:_ fuck you too.

 _Meme_King:_ tell makki taht im not talking to him.

 _Nice_Ass:_ mom tell matsun he can go die in the hoel were he crawled out of.

 _Suga:_ but seriously has any of you guys seen the news?

 _Nice_Ass:_ none of us shouldve obvi. thats the dads job

* * *

And this is where Hanamaki indirectly puts salt onto Sugawara's wound:

 _because the dad's dead._

I guess Sugawara really is the single mom now.

 _Another thing:_ Iwaizumi is currently cringing that Hanamaki and Matsukawa are using their nicknames given by Oikawa. They rarely use it in verbal usage, because it reminds them too much of Oikawa, but they type it down out of habit anyways.

And Daniel decided to dump the body because he figures the police would find it weird if three kids went missing. but let's be honest, teh polie are probs gonna connect this dead body with the missing children anyways.

AND I REALLY WANNA PUT DOWN A 'BONUS' WHERE ITS JUST A GROUPCHAT TALKING. WOULD YOU GUYS LIKE THAT?

* * *

Hello!

I'd like to say I am no longer using ; and have transferred my account to archives of our own!

Once I finish this fanfiction [don't worry I will not just leave you guys like this], I will no longer be using this website!

Please go see my new one, at: /users/Rice_Bunny

Yes I'm a traitor.

If you read this; thank you!


	12. Chapter 12

Ha ha ha ha ha~

Sorry for being gone for so long! I was away last month for Taiwan for this trip thingy. ^-^ Sorry for keeping you waiting.

* * *

"So...is this like...some sort of coping mechanism or-"

"No I just want to make a cake."

 _"Why?"_ Oikawa inquires, and Kageyama just slowly puts down the spatula and turns to face Oikawa, an unreadable expression crossing his features. Oikawa doesn't like that. Sure, perhaps the only person who's truly in sync with him is Iwaizumi, but he still has an empathetic ability, or at least a radar of understanding whenever it comes to ones' emotions that they want to reveal. Yet, Oikawa cannot figure out for his life what Kageyama's trying to tell him. "A coping mechanism? Are you sure?"

"It's not a coping mechanism. Like I said, I'm doing this purely for Daniel and us."

"Yeah, but you cook like everyda-"

"Dumbass. I don't cook because it helps me cope; I cook because I'm the only person who can."

"Hey!" Oikawa yelps, but settles back down onto his stool next to the colorful counter, smiling. But, to his realization, he's not smiling because of Kageyama's comment. Rather, it was because he recalls a familiar situation. Probably just a year or so ago, he attempted to cook once more. His parents were away for a week to China, for a meeting. And rather than ordering takeout or just fastfood as his parents recommended, or just microwaving things they bought from the supermarket, he decided he wanted to experiment cooking once more.

So he did.

Iwaizumi, from across the street, smelled the burning food before even seeing the smoke.

After that incident, Iwaizumi forced Oikawa to just sit at the dinner table, always a foot away from the actual kitchen, and spent an hour or so cooking for Oikawa. At that thought, his stomach plummets. _He remembers something. A thing he skipped out on back then._ Iwaizumi's finals were that day. And yet instead of studying for something that was incredibly important-

He decided to waste his hours just to cook for Oikawa.

The guilt is settling in now.

 _Oh my God._

"Oikawa?"

"I'm fine." Kageyama gives him another look, this time, wearing another expression. What is it? Pity? Understanding? _Sympathy?_

"It's Iwaizumi-senpai, isn't it?" At this, Oikawa stiffens. _Senpai._ It just reminds him of something Kindaichi would say. Oikawa, while he thoroughly likes that innocent boy who always tries his hardest in hopes of impressing his superiors; something about his flattering adoration for Iwaizumi just doesn't sit right with Oikawa. A steaming sensation of disgust and perhaps temporary dislike directed to the boy always stirs within Oikawa whenever Kindaichi turns his glistening eyes to Iwaizumi.

A crush. Oikawa figures. Kindaichi definitely has some unspoken feelings preserved for Oikawa's best friend. _Best friend, huh?_ Oikawa's unsure where all the jaundiced sensations are really spawning from, however, all he knows, is that there's this form of jealousy. Oikawa doesn't find this strange. After all, he's well aware of his obsessive, and genuine possessive behavior over Iwaizumi out of fear of losing him, but this, this seems uncalled for. Why should he care? After all, it'd be rather hypocritical of Oikawa himself, for always seeking attention from his fans. For someone, just one guy, to have a sure feeling of attraction for Iwaizumi, and for Oikawa to get all envious [for some reason] over it, seems rather horrible of him, doesn't it?

Oikawa never dated or kissed a girl; he simply finds no reason to. And honestly, he'd probably feel incredibly guilty over leading a female on. And he always forces himself to eat any of the pastries the girls baked for him, or accept and apologetically decline all their confessions. He eats the cookies in front of them all the while saying he thoroughly enjoys them, so that they feel proud of themselves. And he does feel apologetic and horrible for those girls who are obviously going to be rejected by him. After all, it must've taken a lot of courage and bravery to confess to him.

Oikawa doesn't know why he never accepted a single girl's confession.

"Oikawa-"

 _"What?"_ He practically snaps, and at this, Oikawa feels the same, abhorrence he felt for Kageyama back when they were in middleschool. A petulant feeling spreads throughout him, and he feels incredibly insufferable. He has a horrible attitude. He shouldn't shout at Kageyama for his inner turmoil. But he cannot help but feel bitter, as he recalls Kageyama's blooming respect for Iwaizumi, who always treated him well, while Oikawa scuffed and kicked him away.

He's a horrible person in general, isn't he?

And frankly, he doesn't deserve Iwaizumi. He doesn't deserve to try and place himself on the same level with Kageyama, either. Even though he fought with everything he had, struggled and forced himself over the edge just so that he can continue to play volleyball, even though it was just encouraging his self-destruction at that time-

He's still lesser than Kageyama.

And so, as Oikawa turns to the boy who's kneading the ground meat with vegetables, he feels nothing but utter repulsion, that's automatically turned onto himself. How could he? Thinking those words. Those things. "I'm sorry." Oikawa breathes, flickering his eyes down. He holds his respire, but Kageyama didn't respond after that.

* * *

Before, Sugawara simply would've just called a sick day. Stay at home. But perhaps after everything that has happened, he found comfort and he feels horrible for feeling so greedy, wanting to stay with his teammates rather than actually mourn alone for Daichi. It's honestly numbing. His parents stammered, wanting to force Sugwara to stay at home. They might not have ever met Daichi other than few moments whenever they go to their matches and talked to him, knowing that he's the captain, but they're aware of who he is. After all, Sugawara would often enthrall them with tales of their adventures.

Sugawara, Daichi, Asahi and definitely Kiyiko, were friends ever since young. Especially with Kiyiko. If anything, Sugawara feels as though he has to go to practice today, and at least talk to one of his closest friends and help comfort Kiyiko. And Asahi. That guy will break. Being third-years, they were all pretty close from the start as they spent more time with each other.

And so that's why he's even dragging his feet along the pavement, going to the gym.

Things could be worse; for example he could go to school with the attitude he had yesterday night. Happy, cheerful, and oblivious. _Pretending that Daichi was still alive._ He scared his parents, he could tell. But he didn't-he just couldn't admit to himself that Daichi's dead. And so, simply, he just went with the idea that Daichi never left. After all, the body could've simply been a fluke. Maybe the body just looked like Daichi.

He shudders as he approaches the gym door.

He opens it with a creak.

The sound of ball thudding onto wood washes over his ears with a sense of familiarity. "Oh. Hey Suga-san!" _How fake._ But Sugawara just plasters on an equally unreal grin, and turns to face Hinata, the only member here at such an early time of day.

It's like that now Kageyama's gone, Hinata spends more and more of his time here. After school, he'll also return here. Actually, their real practice starts afterschool, but they also meet up in the beginning as they could all meet the requirements and hope to get more practice in. "How are you today?" Hinata whispers. _He looks horrible._ And Sugawara feels immediate guilt on just wallowing in his own pity, and not paying attention to Hinata who definitely suffered more with Kageyama ripped from his side.

Hinata's eyes are glassy and dull, the glittering variables vanishing, now only decorated with purple that blossoms underneath and around. His gaunt face and mussed hair indicates he hasn't been eating or taking care of himself properly in general. His shaking figure makes it look as though he'll collapse within minutes, and yet he's still here, smacking the ball. Sugawara takes a step forward. "Hey...Hinata...about Daichi-"

The boy turns to him, his visage blank.

 _He doesn't know._ And Sugawara finds himself unable to break this young boy even more. He's clearly...suffering from a Kageyama withdrawl already [it's simple to say that while they never discussed it, they were close and definitely ended with a relationship something farther than best friends. Sugawara isn't sure if it's platonic or not].

Sugawara knows that telling him that Daichi is dead, Hinata will break. And Sugawara doesn't want to ever utter the words that Daichi's gone, either.

His mouth goes dry as he stares at the once lively boy, who suffers silently. He can't do anything. _he won't do anything._ And so, instead, Sugawara finds himself breaking down in front of the boy.

"Suga...senpai?" Sugawara watches as through his bobbing vision, blurring from tears, Hinata stepping forward, for once, an emotion breaking through his empty one. Helplessness. Sugawara feels terrible. He shouldn't make Hinata witness this. And to his horror, he watches as Hinata himself, begin to cry. At first, Sugawara thought that he's just seeing his own tears, but then, he hears Hinata's muffled sob over his own, raspy cries. They both end up on the gym floor, each crying and sobbing.

And Sugawara has a feeling, that he's going to have to shatter his own team. Perhaps the only person who'll even know the news is Asahi.

At this, his cries grow harsher.

"Die..." Sugawara has to tell Hinata. He can't hold this out against him. But Sugawara can feel a hollow emptiness echo through him. He's truly insatiable, isn't he? Unable to get enough of this self-pithiness, only thinking about his sadness, when Hinata, who's in front of him, is truly suffering even more. "Die-achi..." He enunciates the name so that he may choke them out of his throat. _"He's dead. Hinata, Daichi's dead-_ " His words are cut short as a warm bundle slams into him, and Sugawara feels a wetness spread through the front of his shirt. From the impact of Hinata running into him, they both topple onto the gym floor, and Sugawara wraps his arms around the shaking, sobbing boy.

Sadly, this is possibly the most emotion he's gotten out of this boy within a week.

* * *

Akaashi balks. He doesn't want to look at Bokuto, so instead he begins scrolling through his messages on his phone. "You really didn't watch the news?" Akaashi turns to a pathetic gaze to Bokuto. _Typical._

"Akaashi, the news is for old people!"

 _Oh my God._

However, Akaashi, while he so desperately wants to enjoy Bokuto's overwhelming presence, cannot help but remember what the news had said. While he missed the first part of it, he eventually got the entire story easily. "Bokuto. Let's just say...Karasuno and Aoba Seijou are both going through a lot of shit."

He didn't get the reaction he expected. Oh wait, no he did.

 _"GUYS AKAAAAASHI JUST SWORRREEEE!"_ Bokuto's loud voice rings through the gymnasium, and Akaashi flinches. How could he possibly ruin his teammates' day with the news of Daichi's disappearance? They're already all uncomfortable and on edge from Karasuno's famed spiker disappearing, along with the popular, undeniably well-known Oikawa Tooru vanishing as well. And to now mention Karasuno's captain also disappearing?

As Akaashi tries to desperately grasp at theories and ideas that he can say, he can't. It's harder to say this. While the other two setters, he could just say they disappeared, this captain, _he's acclaimed dead._ That's different, as it doesn't give out hope.

And Bokuto probably says the worst thing he could, his rambunctious tone interrupting Akaashi's critical thoughts:

"GUYS! KUROO AND I DECIDED TO HOLD ANOTHER GAME! WE COULD INVITE KARASUNO AS WELL!" While Akaashi knows Bokuto's doing this just for the sake of Karasuno, hoping that they could silently offer their support by hanging out with them more, Akaashi wants nothing more than to shove his phone into his friend's mouth. After all, Daichi was claimed dead just yesterday, and already, they're planning a game with the mourning team.

"Bokuto-san, please tell me, when do you want to hold this game?"

"Next weak!" Bokuto yelps, bouncing next to Akaashi.

Akaashi supposes that's acceptable. "Please don't send an invitation to Karasuno until perhaps three days later."

"Why?"

"Bokuto-san-"

 _"AkAAAAShi_ , I told you many times, _drop the 'san'!"_

"Bokuto!" Akaashi doesn't raise his voice. He never does. Yet, perhaps Bokuto picked up on the urgent, slightly panicked timbre hidden underneath Akaashi's usual, monotonous voice, and he automatically shuts up without intervening. For once. "There's...probably something I should tell you."

* * *

Kuroo knows that he probably should read the news. After all, the chill, supposedly motherly setter had suggested it over text. But at that time, Kuroo had better things to do. Such as trying to text Kenma, _who isn't texting back_ -

Kuroo is aware that Kenma's away. But does he not have internet connection over there? Or is he simply ignoring Kuroo? Somewhere in the back of his sardonic mind, he's pretty sure it's the latter. He feels hurt.

And also-

He still has work to do. Such as:

 _"LEV YOU IDIOT-"_ Kuroo snarls, exasperated, as Lev nearly takes Yaku out with his large hand that he whipped forth. But it seems as though he doesn't have to do much, as the toffee-haired midget snaps around, facing Lev with possibly the most frightening, contorted visage Kuroo has ever seen. Kuroo feels as though, being captain, he should put a stop to this, but instead, he just takes silent pleasure in Yaku shoving his tiny foot up a screaming-Lev's ribcage.

"KUROO-SENSEI! SAVE MEEE!"

Kuroo just bluntly turns away from Lev's shrill screams of terror from being murdered by an extremely angry gremlin.

* * *

"Huh?" Iwaizumi just shrugs. "The news?" Iwaizumi tilts his head.

"News? The news is for old people." Hanamaki scoffs, unknowingly echoing the words of an exunterant, ashen-haired boy. Matsukawa just nods stiffly in agreement, staring ahead. Iwaizumi pinches the bridge of his nose, and rolls his eyes. "Oi, being Mom, shouldn't you have watched the news and not us?"

 _"Mom-"_ He sputters, only for Matsukawa to cut in.

"I feel as though Oikawa would argue and say he's the daddy-"

He serves a ball straight at Matsukawa's head without regret. Sure, it doesn't feel right as Iwaizumi just...well, it's not Oikawa.

* * *

"Yes. We would like to make a cake." Oikawa tells Daniel. "I mean. At first I thought it was mainly for Kageyama, but then, I realized, you...you killed Daichi for us." At this, Daniel just raises an eyebrow. _And I thought my acting skills were superb._ Then again, Oikawa couldn't just expect for Daniel to immediately believe that Oikawa loves him, just like that.

"Look. I know, that I haven't expressed any sort of liking towards you. But, while I don't love you yet," Oikawa tries to find a statement that would positively affect this situation all the while sound possible in this situation. "I can respect you for killing people for us. Such as for Sachiko-" His voice croaks at this part. "At first I was angry. But then, I realized, she was with you longer. You obviously loved her, but you killed her for us-" Daniel's softening gaze is what motivates Oikawa to continue laying his lie on thick. "Meaning that you truly loved us more. That's something I can respect and admire. And I haven't thanked you yet. And I believe that you would never mean to harm us without good intentions, judging by what I witnessed so far. So, I think that I can start to learn to grow on that respect. And while Kageyama's making that cake to show that he thanks you for your affection and that you're starting to grow on him; I want to help make the cake to show my thanks to you." Oikawa has to swallow and take a deep breath of air after his rushed words.

At this, Daniel seemingly finds his words genuine, as he nods slowly. Well, of course, Oikawa believes that what he just said was truly believable, considering everything.

"Sure. Just name the ingredients, and I'll get them."

Oikawa didn't realize he was shaking, until Daniel left with Kageyama who begins to write down the list of ingredients they need.

* * *

 _Brokuto:_ HEY HEEY HEY!

 _Brokuroo:_ AYYYyYYY Y

 _Terushima:_ 'Adventures of Kool Kat and B-Boss"'

 _Brokuroo:_ YASSsssssSSSSYYASYASYASY

 _Akaashi:_ please stop.

 _Suga:_ So...did...

 _[18:49]_

 _Suga:_ hello? like an hour passed since you guys responded

 _Akaashi:_ yeah. I did tell Bo. He didn't...take it well.

 _Iwaizumi:_ tell him what? Is he currently in his emo phase at te mment?

 _Suga:_ Asahi...didn't take it well either.

 _Brokuroo:_ did anyone just feel the atmosphere change? What's going on?

 _Meme Queen:_ whoa did kuroo ust usde spellin and gramar 4 once?

 _Meme King:_ whoa dat boiiiiii

 _Suga:_ guys...

 _Meme Queen_ : Mr. Refreshing-kun (as oakawa wuld say0))0 do u not see my name? im clearly a woman smh.

 _Meme King:_ btw dats makki

 _Meme Queen:_ lol. 'dats makki'. 'dat ass'.

 _Asahi:_ I'm going to assume you guys didnt' hear.

 _Ennoshita:_ oh no.

 _Brokuroo:_ seriously guys what's going on. Hanamki, Matsukawa, stop.

 _Meme King:_ okay

 _Meme Queen:_ what. What's goign on.

 _Meme Queen:_ seriously. why are you guys so esrious.

 _Terushima:_ oi where's Thighchi?

 _Iwaizumi:_ yeah he didnt reply to my text today

 _Meme Queen:_ you have Thighchi's number? lucky.

 _Iwaizumi:_ it was for a volleyball question.

 _Akaashi:_ since nobody else seems to be progressign, i'll say it. Diachi's dead.

 _[20:32]_

* * *

Volleyball practice was cancelled.

* * *

"Oh...it looks as though Karasuno has dropped out of this year's...tournament..." Akaashi stares at the text Sugawara sent. His throat constricts, and his own entire team stop moving in unison, turning to face him in sync.

No cheers of an opponent lost.

Just pitying glances and a darkened aura.

* * *

"They dropped out. Maybe we should too." Yahaba suggests in a low voice, and Iwaizumi licks his lips. "I mean..."

"We're just going to drop out because our captain's gone?" Iwaizumi flinches at Kyoutani's harsh words, and judging by the way that Yahaba's eyes blown up, Yahaba's probably going to kick Kyoutani down. But then, when Iwaizumi whips up, ready to punch one of his favorite teammates-

He sees Kyoutani's face. His eyes are wide, his lips trembling, and there are tears rolling down his face. But he still stares at them proudly, unabashed by his tears. Nobody makes fun of him. Maybe it's just seeing the proud, tough Mad Dog crying, but suddenly, Kindaichi begins to _laugh._ His laughs quickly transition into dry wails, broken and cracked with hiccups. Then again, Kindaichi was rather soft.

Iwaizumi takes in a shaky breath, as his eyes heat up, implying that waterworks are going to start once more.

And pretty soon; their entire team is a fucking trainwreck, some of them quiet, some crying out loud some laughing as a coping system.

Well, there's also Kunimi. Iwaizumi, as he wipes away his own tears, isn't sure what to think. It's...like a cartoon.

A single tear rolling down the boy's porcelain cheeks, as the artificial light of the gym hits his face like a spotlight.


End file.
